Coursera Social and Economic Networks Review

Social and Economic Networks: Models and Analysis is an introductory network theory and analysis course offered by Stanford through the Coursera MOOC platform geared toward learners who are comfortable with basic statistics, probability and linear algebra. You don't need to know anything about social networks ahead of time to take this course, but having basic familiarity with networks will help things go a bit smoother. The course has 7 weeks of lecture content covering network basics, measures of centrality, network formation models and diffusion, learning and games on networks. You'll also be introduced to Gephi, a software tool for network visualization and analysis. The 8th week is reserved for a final exam.


Social and economic networks provides all the raw information you need to get a solid grounding in network theory and analysis, but the presentation style is impersonal so the content is not particularly engaging. The professor is knowledgeable and appears on screen while explaining lecture slides, but he shows little emotion. While the lectures can get a bit intimidating with equation after equation, the homework exercises and final exam are easier than the lectures might suggest. You get 2 attempts on each chapter quiz and 1 attempt on the final; a score of 70% or more is required for a certificate and 90% or more will earn you a certificate with distinction.


All in all, social and economic networks is worthwhile course if you are interested in social networks and aren't intimidated by a bit of math, but I wouldn't take it for fun. If you want to take a course on the same subject that is lighter on math, consider Coursera's Networked Life from UPenn. It covers similar topics in a manner that is a bit more accessible to the average person.

I give this course 3.5 out of 5 stars: Good.