Social network analysis (SNA) is growing in popularity among wireless operators. SNA is a type of analytical scoring system that enables communications service providers (CSPs) to analyze CDR and IPDR data to identify social calling circles among friends and families.

This analysis can aid operators in targeting or up-selling offers based on subscriber preferences and the games or apps that are popular among the subscriber's circle of trust. SNA also allows operators to identify the key influencer through calling patterns in a specific social group.

Analytic algorithms are then used to determine the likelihood, if an influencer churns, for the rest of that social circle to churn as well. The next step is to determine which customers are worth keeping and how to actively execute compelling marketing campaigns to prevent them from churning.

This brief paper details the need for SNA, new methods for conducting it and why Sybase IQ is well-positioned to aid in the analytical queries needed to perform such analysis.