Examining the evolution of networks based on lists in Twitter

In this research we analyze the evolution of online social networks based on the “List” feature in Twitter. Lists are connected implicitly by virtue of sharing common users, and the users are also connected implicitly by being added to the same lists. We focus on the evolution of these implicit networks in Twitter with users and their lists, and attempt to understand how triadic closures occur among users via lists. Using a dataset collected over a period of 6 months we show that closures exhibit many different patterns. We also analyze the pattern of dissolution of connections and show that it is closely related to the nature of the triadic structures and the roles of the nodes in the information sharing network.