Weighted Key Player Problem for Social Network Analysis

Social network analysis is a tool set whose uses range from measuring the impact of marketing campaigns to disrupting clandestine terrorist organizations. Social network analysis tools are primarily focused on the structure of relationships between actors in the network. However, characteristics of the actors, such as importance or status, are generally the output of the social network analysis rather than an input. Characteristics of actors can come from a number of sources to include information gathering, subject matter experts or social network analysis. Further, the strength of relationships between actors in social networks are often assumed to be all equal. However, relationships range from strong familial like relationships to weak casual relationships. The research developed in this thesis uses actor characteristics, relationship strength and location theory to identify key individuals in a social network that are strategically located to influence, intercept, strengthen or disrupt data flow between a set of actors.