How do people link? Analysis of contact structures in human face-to-face proximity networks

Understanding the process of link creation is rather important for link prediction in social networks. Therefore, this paper analyzes contact structures in networks of face-to-face spatial proximity, and presents new insights on the dynamic and static contact behavior in such real world networks. We focus on face-to-face contact networks collected at different conferences using the social conference guidance system Conferator. Specifically, we investigate the strength of ties and its connection to triadic closures in face-to-face proximity networks. Furthermore, we analyze the predictability of all, new and recurring links at different points of time during the conference. In addition, we consider network dynamics for the prediction of new links.