Facebook, Cornell researchers analyze romantic ties
Facebook's Eric Backstrom, senior engineer, together with Jon Kleinberg, a computer scientist at Cornell University, have sparked interest with the online publication over the weekend of their paper, "Romantic Partnerships and the Dispersion of Social Ties: A Network Analysis of Relationship Status on Facebook," also to be presented at a conference on social computing in February. The authors found that with their special tool in analyzing linked structures, they can figure out how to identify your romantic partner or best friend from among your connections. The two researchers were able to show that the shape of a person's social network is a powerful signal for identifying one's spouse or romantic partner. Their approach reportedly can even spot if a relationship is likely to break up.