I hope everyone is aware about NodeXL and worked with it on various networking sites such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.
You can work on another interesting networking site- the one through which everybody stay connected- Facebook.
You will be amazed when you analyse your Personal Network i.e., "Facebook Network" on NodeXL and this blog will show you how it can be done.
There are two ways by which you can fetch facebook data into NodeXL. One way, is to install the "Social Net Importer" for Facebook and other is through Facebook application, NameGenWeb which will fetch the data in various file formats like GraphML, Guess(.gdf), UCINET(.dl) and JSON.
1) Using Social Net Importer
Please follow the steps given below:
Step 1:
Download the zip file from link:
Step 2:
Unzip the file: you will find four items:-
1. FacebookAPI.DLL
2. SocialNetImporter.DLL
3. FacebookAPI.pdb
4. SocialNetImporter.pdb
Step 3:
Copy the first two files (File extension : .DLL).
Copy these files to the NodeXL Plug-ins Directory: "Social Media Research Foundation".
You can get the above mentioned directory either in "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)" depends on the system configuration.
(C:\Program Files(x86)\Social Media Research Foundation\
NodeXL Excel Template\PlugIns)or
(C:\Program Files\Social Media Research Foundation\
NodeXL Excel Template\PlugIns)Step 4:
Now start your NodeXL template.
You will see the Facebook Import option in the NodeXL>Data>Import menu.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed the Facebook Importer in NodeXL.
2) Using Facebook Application
2) Using Facebook Application
Download the Facebook network data using NameGenWeb
application. As I have mentioned initially that we can fetch four types of file formats using NameGenWeb application but right now there are only two file format which can be used in NodeXL viz GraphML & UCINET .
You can get the NameGenWeb Application @ NameGenWeb.
Now you will be asked for your facebook credentials.
Once your credential are verified, you will greeted by a page which will look like the image below.
Now click Get Started and Step 1 procedure would be visible to you. You would be asked if you can be contacted via email for their research study, Mark the option as shown below if interested otherwise click the continue button.
In Step 2 you would be asked to check the information you require to analyze your network. Check the attributes accordingly and the application will fetch only that data.
Click the download button.
Step 3 : Click the download button.
Step 3 : Click the download button.
Step 4: Select the file format from the file type drop down within the download format box.
Now click the download and file will be saved in GraphML file format.
Now time to import the pretty Facebook Data into NodeXL from GraphML file.
In a blank NodeXL template, select Import>From GraphML file.
I am starting with my Facebook network , you can see the below snapshot of mapped inter-relationships of my friends.
I am starting with my Facebook network , you can see the below snapshot of mapped inter-relationships of my friends.
The above image visualization can be obtained with a little experiment. The data was fetched from NodeXL import option, which enabled me to download all of my Facebook friends' data and see who was connected to whom. I've highlighted Sriram (at the center of the graph) as he is connected to most of whom I’m connected to.
