The crux of this paper emerges a maturity model that defines how social networks eventually attain trusted status among their members, with the structure of the networks themselves being integral to the growth of explicit or tacit knowledge. A fascinating finding is that when social networks are in a star topology there is a pronounced lower level of transactive information sharing. Contrasting this limiting effect on information sharing based on a star topology, the core-periphery structure enables more egalitarian information sharing and transactive use of data.
One of the key findings of the work by Huang and DeSanctis (2005) underscores' Cooks' (2001) assessment of multiple roles within a social network creating more of a basis for trust and more effective transactive data being shared and published throughout a network. From these observations by Huang and DeSanctis (2005) and the resulting influences of asymmetrical and symmetrical flows between nodes in an evolving community, a maturity model of interactions, level of transactive data, quantification of trust, core-periphery and ultimately the creation of an information exchange all can be predicted by the maturity model that emerges from the forum-based research completed.
Taking these findings a step further, it becomes clear that the trajectory of growth, composition, and the precise prediction of what any given social network will be in the future is not predictable. For any organization the challenge is fostering more of explicit and tacit information sharing, clearly defining the skills critical on the part of information exchange participants to contribute to and grow both their knowledge but also the knowledge of the broader group or network. The analysis from Huang and DeSanctis (2005) brings up the interrelationship of the density of a given social...
What emerges from the velocity, scope and depth of these information exchanges is a maturity model based on trust first, and validity and relevance of data shared second. The bottom line is that Huang and DeSanctis (2005) have devised in their research the necessary strategies for the next stage of critical work, which is the definition of a social networking maturity model where social capital and credibility are the mediums of exchange. Weisinger and Salipante (2005) have defined social capital as the intersection of opportunity, motivation and ability. The basis for this definition rests in the creation of social networks that assist, foster, growth and nurture these foundations of social capital in a framework that is based on a maturity model of trust.
References
Cook (2001) - Social Networks: A Primer. James a. Cook. Department of Sociology. Duke University. January 6, 2001
Huang and DeSanctis (2005) - Mobilizing Informational Social Capital in CyperSpace: Online Social Network Structural Properties and Knowledge Sharing. Duke University. Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Information Systems.
Weisinger and Salipante (2005) - a Grounded Theory for Building Ethnically Bridging Social Capital in Voluntary Organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 1, March 2005 29-55. Accessed from the Internet on September 14, 2006: (http://nvs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/34/1/29.pdf#search=%22Adler%2C%20P.%2C%20%26%20Kwon%2C%20S.%20(2002).%20Social%20capital%3A%20Prospects%20for%20a%20new%20concept.%20Academy%20of%20Management%20Review%2C%2027(1)%2C%2017-40.%22
