Reputation Models in Social Networks

The paper is concerned with measurement of reputation of agents interacting in the social network. The social network is considered in the context of online communities in which the agents are users of web platforms. The majority of models used for reputation measurement on the Internet are based on numerical expression of consumers’ opinions. It is explained by simplicity of measurement and perception. What is more, users leave much information beyond trading platforms where they can speak openly about products purchased and users’ experience of interacting with a company and a seller. Such information should be analyzed too. In the paper, the method of sentiment analysis is considered in order to measure reputation of a company regarding references to the given company in social networks. The reputation index is calculated for big IT-companies. The paper also provides some recommendations on reputation management in social networks.