Dr Demetris Antoniades, leader of the DARE MRG of RISE, attended the 8th International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications. During the conference, Demetris presented the extended abstract titled “An ego-centric view of ego-network evolution “. In this work, Demetris together with Mrs Kleio Antoniou, PhD student at the Open University of Cyprus, examine how EGO networks, i.e. networks that comprises by a person (the EGO), her immediate connections and the connections between them, evolve. Specifically, they examin how the characteristics, i.e. occupation, initial network etc., as well as the daily behavior of the EGO, i.e. expression tone, topics discussed etc., affect the evolution of the EGO’s network.

The initial results presented show that ego networks show a daily change of ±2%, in the total number of nodes included in the network. Positive sentiment and affect (i.e. Joyful expressions), and general subjects of discussion like family, hobbies and entertainment appear to lead towards an increase in the network size.