Evolution of a Large Online Social Network focuses on Weaklink, one of the largest online social networks in China, to illuminate its exposition of social networking’s evolution. The author created his own profile while adding anonymous friends.  To monitor the evolution of the social network, the user logged in for a specific amount of time in order to evaluate when (and how) the networking developed.  The article catalogues the initial peak interest, garnered among a few hardcore aficionados who transmitted their enthusiasm to their joining friends.  Later, users habituated towards social networking’s novelty; the euphoria since declined.  Interestingly, the article notes that most relationships were created between two old users or one old user and one new user.  Ultimately, the virtual world encourages engagement by shattering invisible boundaries between social groups.

This piece provides a general overview of how social networks develop.  The discussion regarding the rise, fall, and plateau of interest in social networking provides valuable insight to how social networks are formed and – more importantly – who forms them and for what purpose(s).