Eur. Phys. J. B (2015) 88: 249
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-60549-7

Regular Article

Temporal fidelity in dynamic social networks^*

¹ Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
² Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA
³ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

^a e-mail: arks@mit.edu

Received: 6 July 2015
Received in final form: 17 August 2015
Published online: 7 October 2015

Abstract

It has recently become possible to record detailed social interactions in large social systems with high resolution. As we study these datasets, human social interactions display patterns that emerge at multiple time scales, from minutes to months. On a fundamental level, understanding of the network dynamics can be used to inform the process of measuring social networks. The details of measurement are of particular importance when considering dynamic processes where minute-to-minute details are important, because collection of physical proximity interactions with high temporal resolution is difficult and expensive. Here, we consider the dynamic network of proximity-interactions between approximately 500 individuals participating in the Copenhagen Networks Study. We show that in order to accurately model spreading processes in the network, the dynamic processes that occur on the order of minutes are essential and must be included in the analysis.