The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online

Social network analysis (SNA) begins with the recognition that differentiated and potentially valuable information is dispersed across social networks and that individuals have an interest in gaining access to it. Economists interested in the social embeddedness of resources will find SNA a fruitful area of inquiry. That said, Austrian economists push SNA to consider social networking as a process of social learning in which individuals engage in a genuine (nondeterministic) discovery process, and out of which information flows have the potential to extend benefit far beyond the individuals engaged in the original social exchange.