A Comparative Study of Expert Search Strategies in Online Social Networks

Expert Seeking is a social network application that requires certain search strategies in the form of expert candidate-selection process. Assuming that no one in the network has the global knowledge, a query for expertise must be forwarded to, and between, candidates in order to reach the right person. During this candidate-selection process, a person determines whom to forward the query based only on the local information s/he knows. Two types of local information, actor profiles and structural attributes, may be used in devising search strategies. In this paper we conduct a comprehensive comparative study on search strategies using these types of information, as well as on search strategies using both types simultaneously to see if there is a synergy between them.

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