Social Network Analysis for Journalists

by Karen Kleiss

In a presentation called Social network analysis: Tracking the paths of power, David Donald of the Center for Public Integrity and Robert Anglen of The Arizona Republic talked about using social network analysis in journalism. Don't confuse this with social networking on Twitter or Facebook; think more along the lines of social scientists tracking the relationships between people in a newly discovered Amazonian tribe, or between Ed Stelmach and the people on various oil sands-related committees.

Some really neat American sites that do this are muckety.com, theyrule.net, and Analyze the U.S.. Donald and Anglen said journalists who do this type of work typically use software called UCINET and, increasingly, a program called NodeXL, which works with the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program that comes installed in most computers.

This session was interesting, but social network analysis is complicated and is definitely a specialty within journalism. If you're really keen, there's an awesome primer on the IRE website. To see what social networking can do, read Anglen's piece, Perfectly Legal ,in the Arizona Republic.

I'd also highly recommend the book Precision Journalism, but that's just me.

Investigative Reporters and Editors Annual Conference, June 2010
Session: Social Network Analysis: Tracking the paths of power
Presenters: Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, and David Donald, Centre for Public Integrity