The social graph is a contextual sociogram that describes all the members, organizations, groups and other user-end components of a social network and the relation/connection between them. A social graph helps to illustrate and map the overall structure and interrelation of social network members.
Th social graph was initially conceived by Facebook to provide insight into users’ interactions with and relations to other users. It later led to the development of the Facebook Graph API. Although there are many different approaches to drawing a social graph, it works by plotting a member on a plain graph/surface. Each member is referred to as the actor or social object. That member is connected to different individuals/groups through ties that are plotted as lines. These lines or relations are denoted through various attributes, which define the nature/type of relationship between connections. For example, a member might have personal acquaintance with one member and a professional connection with another. Two members can also be indirectly connected to each other via a shared group or community.
