Experts dissect social networking

ZDNet reports Yahoo will be hiring scientists in economics and sociology to assist in researching social networks and other online marketing strategies.

Experts include R. Preston McAfee, professor of business, economics and management at the California Institute of Technology; and Duncan Watts, professor of sociology at Columbia University and author of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. McAfee will head Yahoo's microeconomics research department while Watts leads human social dynamics.

Yahoo's head of research, Prabhakar Raghavan, stated, "The viewpoint and way of thinking (of researchers) is different from people like myself who come from a computer science background." He noted such perspectives can help Yahoo improve its services in addition to advancing technology within the realm of the Internet.

Yahoo owns a number of popular web properties, including Flickr and Hotjobs. Its growing research team makes heavy contributes to these properties in terms of assessing demographics, building algorithms and developing pricing strategies.