FYI, the image you see is the diffusion path of the code, which should change as it spreads.

Of course, the challenge for Presidential candidates in balancing the base against the center, in moving from the primary to the general campaign is nothing new. However, the speed of the backlash from the grassroots, and the use of the campaign's own mobilization machinery, is novel.

Here are excerpts from the article:

Obama Voters Protest His Switch on Telecom Immunity

By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama’s decision to support legislation granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants has led to an intense backlash among some of his most ardent supporters.

Thousands of them are now using the same grass-roots organizing tools previously mastered by the Obama campaign to organize a protest against his decision.
In recent days, more than 7,000 Obama supporters have organized on a social networking site on Mr. Obama’s own campaign Web site. They are calling on Mr. Obama to reverse his decision to endorse legislation supported by President Bush to expand the government’s domestic spying powers while also providing legal protection to the telecommunication companies that worked with the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks.

During the Democratic primary campaign, Mr. Obama vowed to fight such legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. But he has switched positions, and now supports a compromise hammered out between the White House and the Democratic Congressional leadership. The bill is expected to come to a vote on the Senate floor next Tuesday. That decision, one of a number made by Mr. Obama in recent weeks intended to position him toward the political center as the general election campaign heats up, has brought him into serious conflict for the first time with liberal bloggers and commentators and his young supporters.

years, was acquired earlier this year by Hoovers. The business network software is

now available as Hoover's Connect.

Another social network software firm disappears ..... It was a fun ride.

Special Issue of Journal of Product Innovation Management: “Agent based modeling of innovation diffusion”

Guest Editors: Rosanna Garcia, Northeastern University and Wander Jager, University of Groningen.

Research interest has risen in capturing complexities using ABM to model innovation diffusion, consumer/organizational behavior and marketplace incongruences. Whereas early ABM models were quite abstract, recent developments focus on using empirical data in combination with ABM in addressing key questions in studying innovation diffusion in complex systems: how can we describe, understand, predict and manage complex behaving markets. The main objective of this special issue is to advance our understanding of the social and environmental dynamics that drive processes of innovation diffusion in different market contexts, as well as developing a perspective on the management of the complex dynamics displayed by many of these systems.

Topics will focus on, but are not limited to:

* ABMs of innovation diffusion, market dynamics and consumer/organizational behavior,
* ABMs to model management of innovation diffusion (as opposed to the diffusion process itself) either within an organization or within the consumer marketplace,
* Validation and calibration methods (e.g., conjoint analysis) of ABM’s using empirical data at the micro level (consumers) and macro level (e.g., sales),
* Advancements of the understanding of the role of normative influences and viral marketing (networks) on the diffusion process.

Manuscripts must be based on original work and not under consideration by any other journal or publication outlet. We encourage work that uses agent based models in combination with empirical data. However, conceptual and analytic work is also being considered. All submissions will be subject to double blind review by experts in the field.

For journal information and how to prepare the manuscript, please access the Journal of Product Innovation Management’s homepage and read the Author Guidelines at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/submit.asp?ref=0737-6782&site=1

The deadline for submission is 15 September 2008. The Special Issue is scheduled to be published in 2009. The deadline for submitting a paper proposal (1000 words) is May 15, 2008. Invitations for submitting a full paper will be sent on October 31, 2008. The deadline for full papers is on January 31, 2009. Submissions should be sent as pdf or word file to w.jager@rug.nl or r.garcia@neu.edu.

there is the story by Alicia Chang for the Associated Press, which was picked up by many AP outlets Friends quit smoking? You probably will too.

From that story:

While the study was cleverly done, it does have its limitations.

...... it's hard to tease out whether social influence is mainly responsible for a whole group kicking the habit. Other factors such as public bans on smoking or studies highlighting the harmful effects of smoking may also play a role.

"You can't prove it with this data," he said. "You have to go to people and ask, 'Why did you stop smoking?'"

There's no question that the Framingham data are unique. Let's hope that others will realize that to really study public health issues, you must measure the social contexts that the subjects are embedded in.

Let's hope that others will begin the slow process of gathering data on both public health issues and the proper social networks.

Will be interested in seeing how the causal angle was pulled out. In particular, the challenge is that people were being differentially pounded with signals to stop smoking during this period, and that differential exposure is likely correlated with network position.

The re-examination by Van den Bule and Lilien of the classic Coleman study, which found that rather than the social network it was differential exposure to marketing that drove adoption of tetracycline, is a nice illustration of how social networks can be correlated with external influences.

In any case, here is the abstract of the article:

ABSTRACT

Background The prevalence of smoking has decreased substantially in the United States over the past 30 years. We examined the extent of the person-to-person spread of smoking behavior and the extent to which groups of widely connected people quit together.

Methods We studied a densely interconnected social network of 12,067 people assessed repeatedly from 1971 to 2003 as part of the Framingham Heart Study. We used network analytic methods and longitudinal statistical models.

Results Discernible clusters of smokers and nonsmokers were present in the network, and the clusters extended to three degrees of separation. Despite the decrease in smoking in the overall population, the size of the clusters of smokers remained the same across time, suggesting that whole groups of people were quitting in concert. Smokers were also progressively found in the periphery of the social network. Smoking cessation by a spouse decreased a person's chances of smoking by 67% (95% confidence interval [CI], 59 to 73). Smoking cessation by a sibling decreased the chances by 25% (95% CI, 14 to 35). Smoking cessation by a friend decreased the chances by 36% (95% CI, 12 to 55 ). Among persons working in small firms, smoking cessation by a coworker decreased the chances by 34% (95% CI, 5 to 56). Friends with more education influenced one another more than those with less education. These effects were not seen among neighbors in the immediate geographic area.

Conclusions Network phenomena appear to be relevant to smoking cessation. Smoking behavior spreads through close and distant social ties, groups of interconnected people stop smoking in concert, and smokers are increasingly marginalized socially. These findings have implications for clinical and public health interventions to reduce and prevent smoking.

And excerpts from coverage in tomorrow's New York Times:

May 22, 2008
Study Ties Smoking to Social Circles
By GINA KOLATA

For years, smokers have been exhorted to take the initiative and quit — use a nicotine patch, chew nicotine gum, take a prescription medication that can help, call a help line, just say no. But a new study finds that stopping is seldom an individual decision.

Smokers tend to quit in groups, the study finds, which means smoking cessation programs should work best if they focus on groups rather than individuals. It also means that a people may help many more than just themselves by quitting — quitting can have a ripple effect prompting an entire social network to break the habit.

The study, by Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School and James Fowler of the University of California in San Diego, followed thousands of smokers and nonsmokers for 32 years, from 1971 until 2003, studying them as part of a large network of relatives, co-workers, neighbors, friends, and friends of friends.

...

I always learn something when I teach my networks class. One of the early exercises that I have students do is a personal network self evaluation (adapted from Baker’s book on social capital). The students’ networks tend to be highly educated, very international, ages 25-30. Essentially, the networks of students tend to look a lot like themselves. What is notable (I base this on the last 3 years of doing this exercise) is where the networks look most different from the students, which is, more often than not, in ties to family members. Family ties are somewhat less likely to be highly educated, and when they are, it is often in a different domain than that of the other people in the students’ network, and, unsurprisingly, they are often (literally) of a different generation.

I think this reflects a broader truth about our ties to family and friends. We are born into our families, but we choose our friends. That flexibility of friendship tends to bring with it homogeneity. If we differ too much from our friends, we get new friends. If we differ too much from our family, we just don’t bring up sex/religion/politics during the holidays.

The notable corollary to this is that while social network scholars often think of family ties as the ultimate in bonding/strong ties, they, in fact, may offer bridges to groups/perspectives/skills that may not exist in our friendship networks.