Network Structures
We usually don't have time to browse through the comments on our LinkedIn posts. What you can see there is a wealth of fascinating insights into how the community behind the business network works. This article presents the network structures that you can discover in the comments.
LinkedIn comment analytics
Our new product, LinkedIn Comment Analytics, has been available for a week. In addition to simple statistics such as the number of comments, replies, interactions, and communication types, we also look at the network structures behind them. They show how the posts are received and reflected in the group of LinkedIn users.
It is about questions about the autarky of the debate, the degree to which the discussion has become independent, or the centralization or decentralization of the discourse.
network structures
When it comes to network structures, we examine the responses to LinkedIn posts, to comments specifically. We call posts that "remain alone", in other words, they do not trigger any further reactions and thus no further discourse " broadcasting. " They behave like TV shows that are broadcast without any interaction taking place.
If comments receive at least one response in the form of an answer, we are already talking about unidirectional communication. If there is a back and forth between participants in the discussion, i.e. a conversation arises, we call this form of communication bidirectional.
types of networks
As you can see in the header image, we can encounter at least three network structures in the comments on LinkedIn. Experts here are not people with more knowledge about the post's topic but people who want to express their perspective.
I call a structure fully centralized in which the author of the actual contribution becomes the center of communication. Without the author, there can be comments, but the discussion of the community theses takes place primarily under the author's moderation. The author is the expert or the communicative center.
Centralized - Decentralized networks are moderated by authors and run independently within the community. Independent debates about opinions, therefore, take place under the umbrella of a single post. The author is an expert, but with many others who see their views as equal.
Decentralized, conversely, are comment structures that are autonomous from the author and take place between the article's readers. The article itself is the trigger. The topic is sufficiently activating so that the interest in the article is greater than that of the author. Today, we can only speculate about the background and the motives. The author is a moderator and activates experts in the network.
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