Social networking is a concept that has existed for a long time; however, with the explosion of the Internet, social networking has become a tool for people to connect and communicate in ways that were impossible in the past. The recent development of Web 2.0 has provided many new applications, such as Myspace, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The purpose of Handbook of Social Networks: Technologies and Applications is to provide comprehensive guidelines on the current and future trends in social network technologies and applications in the field of Web-based Social Networks. This handbook includes contributions from world experts in the field of social networks from both academia and private industry. A number of crucial topics are covered including Web and software technologies and communication technologies for social networks. Web-mining techniques, visualization techniques, intelligent social networks, Semantic Web, and many other topics are covered. Standards for social networks, case studies, and a variety of applications are covered as well.

Handbook of Social Network Technologies and Applications provides comprehensive guidelines on the current and future trends in social network technologies and applications in the field of Web-based Social Networks. Contributed by world experts in the field of social networks from both academia and private industry, a number of crucial topics are covered including cutting edge social network technologies, infrastructures, and communities; social media analysis, organizations, mining, and search; privacy and security issues in social networks; and visualization and applications of social networks.

Topics presented include:
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Perspectives on Social Network Analysis for Observational Scientific Data
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Discovering Mobile Social Networks by Semantic Technologies
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Online Identities and Social Networking
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Decentralized Online Social Networks
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Accessibility Testing of Social Websites
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Understanding and Predicting Human Behavior for Social Communities
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Security and Privacy Threats in Online Social Networks
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Online Advertising in Social Networks

Handbook of Social Networks: Technologies and Applications provides a definitive resource for a wide variety of people including academicians, designers, developers, educators, engineers, practitioners, researchers, and graduate students. This book is also beneficial for business managers, entrepreneurs, and investors.