The Corporate Social Graph

I have previously mentioned the individual's social graph, the relationships a person has with others and how to represent this.

However the relationships a company has with its influencers does in many ways resemble the relationships individuals have. It must therefore possible to do the same for a company or brand. But what are the differences?

Here's my suggestions on how they differ:

1. As a company is made up of more than one person, the nodes that make up the graph must therefore be greater

2. As a consequence, the connections between nodes must also be greater (but not uniformly)

3. The frequency that these connections change at will be different from an individual's graph (if only because very few individuals have their own marketing or PR function)

4. The type of connections will be different.

For example, a connection between two people (nodes) will be based upon family / friendship - usually a positive connection. However collective sentiment about a company / brand / product will be extremely broad and range from the positive to the negative (I don't know anyone who is hated as much as some companies)

Michael Myers has come to a similar conclusion and also calls this connectivity the Corporate Social Graph. He goes on to state that any company not having one will soon be at a disadvantage... and I couldn't agree more!