UPDATE - new version: http://secretdeveloper.github.io/items/hubski_graph_advanced.html
Apologies to mk if I caused any undue spikes in traffic.
edit: Added short blog post and redirected post url to it instead.
I scraped hubskis profile pages starting with my account and recorded some stats gleaned from the html source. Things like days since joining, number of badges, number of followers, number of people followed etc. From there i looped through all the followers and recorded their stats, then each of their followers... I stopped after i had 300 profiles with more than 20 followers and then graphed them as you see. Each circle is one member sized by follower count. I also drew the connections between each member. This is really rough and not polished, the search doesnt work (it did earlier but i broke it without noticing). I may add a few tweaks tomorrow if i find the time like graphing by badge count or age. Ideas are welcome of course.
Very cool, Kaius. forwardslash is presently working on the API which will make such things much easier. Definitely share any feedback/ideas you have.
Thanks. It was pretty easy to do in fairness with a little bit of regex to extract the values I needed. If it was a REST api or similar done with JSON it would be even easier still. When routing around in the html I did come across some id duplication (lots and lots of elements all using the same id) but that's a small thing. One thing that would be useful, and also one of the reasons I tried to visualize the connections between users, would be some indication of the amount of time that a connection has been in place. For example X has followed Y for 60 days. I have a sense that even though hubski is built around following others, the rate at which we add or remove those follows is quite low if not almost static. The biggest changes seen in follower count is when we get an influx of new users and I'd like to see if we can visualize that in order to get a sense of how often we connect with others. I don't know what the ideal rate of change would be. If the number is too low then we have static cliques formed long ago with no desire to change, perhaps we could gear things to prompt them to follow others. If on the other hand we see lots of add/removal of connections then perhaps people view those connections as meaningless and we could look at changing that. Or maybe there isn't a problem with follows at all and all we end up with is a nice bunch of circles and lines :)
I'd like to see it a bit less static, and I am open to suggestions. One thing that I find problematic, is that some good posts slip though global without me seeing them. I spend most of my time in my feed. Some time ago, there was no distinct global feed, but only the option to see 'few', 'some', or 'many' global posts in your feed. Their font was lighter, so you knew that they were global. One thing that we are going to introduce soon is the ability to get email alerts for certain tags. In addition to supporting community efforts like the #weeklymusicthread, #grubski etc., I think it might so some way to helping new users to get some attention.I have a sense that even though hubski is built around following others, the rate at which we add or remove those follows is quite low if not almost static.
It's funny how these things work, chances are that cm joined during a large influx and as such was able to gain a bunch of followers via that. When I look at the list of people that follow him/her, I don't really know any of them. Hasan Elahi follows him/her though. That's interesting.
Everyone should read that Wikipedia page: Elahi's site is the perfect alibi. Or an audacious art project. Or both. The Bangladeshi-born American says the US government mistakenly listed him on its terrorist watch list — and once you're on, it's hard to get off. To convince the Feds of his innocence, Elahi has made his life an open book. Whenever they want, officials can go to his site and see where he is and what he's doing. Indeed, his server logs show hits from the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Office of the President, among others. The globe-hopping prof says his overexposed life began in 2002, when he stepped off a flight from the Netherlands and was detained at the Detroit airport. He says FBI agents later told him they'd been tipped off that he was hoarding explosives in a Florida storage unit; subsequent lie detector tests convinced them he wasn't their man. But with his frequent travel — Elahi logs more than 70,000 air miles a year exhibiting his art work and attending conferences — he figured it was only a matter of time before he got hauled in again. He might even be shipped off to Gitmo before anyone realized their mistake. The FBI agents had given him their phone number, so he decided to call before each trip; that way, they could alert the field offices. He hasn't been detained since.[4]Poke around his site and you'll find more than 20,000 images stretching back three years. Elahi has documented nearly every waking hour of his life during that time. He posts copies of every debit card transaction, so you can see what he bought, where, and when. A GPS device in his pocket reports his real-time physical location on a map.
Yeah, he stopped by years ago, but hasn't been back. Odd that while he was here he followed someone. as an aside, I just went down the oddest youtube worm-hole and ended up on a very funny Howard Stern bashing of Kirk Cameron.. Schadenfreude There are moments I really, really enjoy Howard.
Wait, so you are planning a trip to Iceland? That's awesome man. I had a good night too. I started a new music project tonight. If I still like it tomorrow, it will be something I pursue till I have a full album. It's a weird idea for a project, but may prove cool. I wanna go to Iceland.
How long's it been since you released an album? How many do you have? I listened to one once that I loved involving ... maps? I'm a bit drunk. Come to Iceland! My mates and I are renting a camper van and jetting about on fjords and whitewater rafts and things. Did I mention retail alcohol is the same price as it is stateside?
I have released two albums. I have one (my third) fully recorded, but it's been about 3 years since I recorded it and my passion to release it is VERY much diminished. I'm excited to start a new project that is more indicative of where I'm at, though I'm sad that this song may never see the light of day. -Groovy tune eh?