Students in schools, staff in an organisation, players in a sports team - all have many relationships with their peers, some positive, some negative. They are embedded in many and varied social networks - friendship, acquaintanceship, disrespect and even bullying - all are relationships that can be seen as a network of interactions.

From a social science perspective, a social network refers to a group of people (e.g., Year 7 students) and the relationships between them (e.g., friendships). The specific connections between people can be mapped out, representing the people as dots and the relationships as lines between them, such as the image above.

In the network diagram (or ‘map’) below, dots represent students and the arrow-headed lines represent advice-seeking connections, with arrowheads pointing towards someone they go to for advice. Note that these arrowheads are not always mutual, indicating that advice may only be going in one direction (e.g., from a more experienced student to a less experienced one). Note the critical role of the two students in red who keep this advice-seeking network connected.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is an approach to map and understand the patterns of relationships of a social network. Social network analysis can be different from other perspectives and can offer significant value in schools. In education, that analysis may focus on the strength of networks in a classroom and the link to student mental, academic and social outcomes (Teacher Magazine, 2021).

The INTHEBLACK article Social network analysis: what it is and why it matters gives great insights into the general value of SNA.

A wonderful description on the value of social networks in organisations can be found in the Harvard Business Review, which talks about SNA as an underpinning approach to Better People Analytics.

Underpinning the techniques used by SNA Toolbox is over 100 years of social science in networks. Starting with eminent German sociologist Georg Simmel, SNA grew out of sociology but has expanded into (and because of) other fields such as social psychology, mathematics, and computer science. 

In brief, social networks offer a unique way to measure and understand peer-to-peer social connections, peer influence, organisational culture, team cohesion, diversity and inclusion, silos, and a range of other important relationship-focused activities.