2025/05/16 by Alyssa Smith, Smith, Alyssa, Ilya Amburg +8 · 2 voices · 2 citations
Computer Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Graph Neural Networks #Bridge (graph theory) #COVID-19 epidemiological studies #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Interpersonal ties #Network science #Pairwise comparison #Social media #Social network (sociolinguistics) #Social network analysis
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.11608
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
openalex publication_date 2025/05/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Large-scale networks have been instrumental in shaping how we think about social systems, and have undergirded many foundational results in mathematical epidemiology, computational social science, and biology. However, many of the social systems through which diseases spread, information disseminates, and individuals interact are inherently mediated through groups, known as higher-order interactions. A gap exists between higher-order models of group formation and spreading processes and the data necessary to validate these mechanisms. Similarly, few datasets bridge the gap between pairwise and higher-order network data. The Bluesky social media platform is an ideal laboratory for observing social ties at scale through its open API. Not only does Bluesky contain pairwise following relationships, but it also contains higher-order social ties known as "starter packs" which are user-curated lists designed to promote social network growth. We introduce "A Blue Start", a large-scale network dataset comprising 39.7M user accounts, 2.4B pairwise following relationships, and 365.8K groups representing starter packs. This dataset will be an essential resource for the study of higher-order networks.