The effect of social and physical distance on the global communication networks

Abstract

A close examination of the effects of social (language) and physical distance on the global communication networks revealed that these two factors played important roles in global communication networks. The results of this study showed that language similar ities/differences (whether or not its citizens spoke the four languages - English, German, French, and Spanish) were significantly related to the structure of the four global communica tion networks, that is telecommunication, written, physical, and face-to-face communication, represented by telephone, mail, trade, and transportation networks respectively. There were also statistically significant relationships between a country's physical location and language similarities/differences and the structure of the four global communication networks. Physical distance added incremental variance in the explanation of the telecommunication, written com munication, physical communication, and face-to-face communication network structure. It was found that the effect of social distance on telecommunication and written communication was stronger than that of social distance on face-to-face communication. On the other hand, the effect of physical distance on face-to-face communication was stronger than that of physical distance on telecommunication and written communication.