Reciprocity … certainly a concept that comes up frequently in discussions of networks. It came up again in a recent article by Huberman, Romero, and Wu (2008) regarding Twitter in which the authors’ found that 90 percent of a users’ friends reciprocate attention by being friends of the user which they suggest plays a role in defining the hidden networks within Twitter. Interestingly, they also found that that pattern of reciprocity is consistent regardless of the number of friends. So, what does that degree of reciprocity mean with regard to the hidden network? Does it signal a hidden network of strong-tie network relationships or point to the existence of a slew of weak-tie bridges? Probably a good bit of both. Maybe the answer to that is in the number of direct messages and @replies between those with reciprocal relationships. Looking at my own Twitter account, I don’t know a good number of the 600 or so followers, but I generally follow them back if their profiles suggest a common interest. Maybe that would make a good sub-questions to ask during an interview … What prompts you to follow those who follow you? Describe the relationship you perceive with those who follow you and who you follow back.
