Distributed collaboration models for social networks

In this paper, we model social networks from a memory-consistency perspective, which is based on partial order constraints of interaction histories. Unlike previous research which focuses on studying social interaction, our modelling is targeted for virtual community application designers. An intuitive collaboration model (post-reply) is formally defined, where social network participants interact through a collection of shared objects. Then, two distribution models for these shared objects are formally defined, one is based on replication and the other is based on partitioning of the shared objects. We prove that if interaction is limited to three operations: POST, REPLY, and QUERY, then these distribution models passively admit post-reply. However, if the social network allows UPDATE actions, then the social network implementation requires additional synchronization measures between the replicas or partitions in order to correctly support post-reply collaboration.