Recent Trends and Applications of Data Science in Social Network

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, Italy
Interests: cloud computing; social network; trust and recommendation systems; IoT
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

(1) Data science techniques and algorithms are currently widely applied to analyze data about social networks. Such applications are very important in many business and social sciences areas. For example, data science and analytics allow media platforms to classify users on the basis of their interests and behaviors. In particular, the ever-increasing adoption of AI techniques in the field of data science can enable very quick data analytic sessions and better results.

(2) In this context, this Special Issue is mainly aimed at collecting a wide range of contributions about novel algorithms and techniques, as well as applications, in the field of data science, with specific reference to social networks. Surveys about the latest views proposed in the literature are welcome, as well as original contributions from practitioners about techniques, protocols, algorithms, and architectures in the field of data science and analytics in social networks and social sciences. Proposals about AI-driven applications for data science are welcome, as well as those regarding the discussion of aspects related to data science and analytics in social networks; for example, security, privacy, and trust in the specific context of data collection and analytics. Proposals of novel architectures and standards for data science with particular focus on social networks are welcome.

(3) Suggest themes.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

  • Architecture and models for data science and analytics in social networks.
  • Protocols and standards for data science and analytics in social networks.
  • AI-based agents and applications for data science in social networks and social sciences.
  • Fog/Edge and cloud AI-based systems for data science and analytics.
  • Trust and recommendations systems for data science in social networks.
  • Models, protocols, and algorithms for energy-aware analytics techniques.
  • Data mining and applied machine learning in social networks.
  • Trust and responsible AI applications for data science in social networks.
  • Data-driven application for social and professional networks.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Fabrizio Messina
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • data science
  • data analytics
  • social sciences
  • social networks
  • data mining
  • AI-based data analytics
  • agent-based data-driven applications
  • data-driven architecture
  • data science protocols

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

33 pages, 118991 KB  
Article
Delay-Driven Information Diffusion in Telegram: Modeling, Empirical Analysis, and the Limits of Competition
by Kamila Bakenova, Oleksandr Kuznetsov, Aigul Shaikhanova, Davyd Cherkaskyi, Borys Khrushkov and Valentyn Chernushevych
Big Data Cogn. Comput. 2026, 10(1), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc10010030 - 13 Jan 2026
Viewed by 323
Abstract
Information diffusion models developed for Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook assume network contagion and competition for shared attention. Telegram operates differently. It is built around channels rather than social graphs, and users receive posts directly from subscribed channels without algorithmic mediation. We analyze over [...] Read more.
Information diffusion models developed for Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook assume network contagion and competition for shared attention. Telegram operates differently. It is built around channels rather than social graphs, and users receive posts directly from subscribed channels without algorithmic mediation. We analyze over 5000 forwarding cascades from the Pushshift Telegram dataset to examine whether existing diffusion models generalize to this broadcast environment. Our findings reveal fundamental structural differences. Telegram forwarding produces perfect star topologies with zero multi-hop propagation. Every forward connects directly to the original message, creating trees with maximum depth of exactly 1. This contrasts sharply with Twitter retweet chains that routinely reach depths of 5 or more hops. Forwarding delays follow heavy-tailed Weibull or lognormal distributions with median delays measured in days rather than hours. Approximately 15 to 20 percent of cascades exhibit administrative bulk reposting rather than organic user-driven growth. Most strikingly, early-stage competitive overtaking is absent. Six of 30 pairs exhibit crossings, but these occur late (median 79 days) via administrative bursts rather than organic competitive acceleration during peak growth. We develop a delay-driven star diffusion model that treats forwarding as independent draws from a delay distribution. The model achieves median prediction errors below 10 percent for organic cascades. These findings demonstrate that platform architecture fundamentally shapes diffusion dynamics. Comparison with prior studies on Twitter, Weibo, and Reddit reveals that Telegram’s broadcast structure produces categorically different patterns—including perfect star topology and asynchronous delays—requiring platform-specific modeling approaches rather than network-based frameworks developed for other platforms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Trends and Applications of Data Science in Social Network)
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