Circadian Rhythms in Socializing Propensity.
Using large-scale interaction data from a virtual world, we show that people's propensity to socialize (forming new social connections) varies by hour of the day. We arrive at our results by longitudinally tracking people's friend-adding activities in a virtual world. Specifically, we find that people are most likely to socialize during the evening, at approximately 8 p.m. and 12 a.m., and are least likely to do so in the morning, at approximately 8 a.m. Such patterns prevail on weekdays and weekends and are robust to variations in individual characteristics and geographical conditions.
Department of Information Management and Information Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Cheng
C
Zhang
Department of Information Management and Information Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Chee Wei
CW
Phang
College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Xiaohua
X
Zeng
Department of Information Management and Information Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Ximeng
X
Wang
Department of Information Management and Information Systems, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Yunjie
Y
Xu
School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America.
Yun
Y
Huang
School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America.
Noshir
N
Contractor
D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D033062:Friends; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D013997:Time Factors; D018910:Video Games