Social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, and more continue to search for ways to monetize their sites and business models beyond commercial advertising.  In the past it has not been easy to target mass media advertisements at people on these sites because they are busy with conversation or are just plain better at ignoring ads.  To make money by improving and optimizing the overall end-user experience and in searching for other ways that could potentially result in a revenue stream, there is a strong need to analyze the user behavior and traffic, gathered from large amounts of data. Through better social network analysis, the value of the network can increase for everyone.

For example, improved data analysis allows social networking sites to quickly identify the difference between normal and suspect/abusive user behavior.  This quick detection helps prevent spam and curb malicious user abuse. Other ways of increasing network value include promoting u