After the Internet and the World Wide Web have become popular andwidely-available, the electronically stored online interactions of individualshave fast emerged as a challenge for researchers and, perhaps even faster, as asource of valuable information for entrepreneurs. We now have detailed recordsof informal friendship relations in social networks, purchases on e-commercesites, various sorts of information being sent from one user to another, onlinecollections of web bookmarks, and many other data sets that allow us to posequestions that are of interest from both academical and commercial point ofview. For example, which other users of a social network you might want to befriend with? Which other items you might be interested to purchase? Who are themost influential users in a network? Which web page you might want to visitnext? All these questions are not only interesting per se but the answers tothem may help entrepreneurs provide better service to their customers and,ultimately, increase their profits.
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