Abstract
Researchers of Peer-to-peer networks (P2P) have often suggested that using interest-based shortcuts to accelerate the searching process. However, the number of shortcuts in the most proposed techniques exponentially increases with the size of the interest set. To address this issue, we attempt to adapt social network concepts into P2P systems. Therefore, the objective of the paper is to explore how to apply social network concepts and how those concepts are used to speed up P2P searching process. This paper describes an approach that exploits the local information of current connecting peers in P2P systems to discover usable resources (latent friends) via individual’s unique social networks, and then establishing long paths with them. This research involved a goal to broaden the search scope to cater various kinds of query properties with limited maintenance cost but still with certain efficiency. The analysis of the experiments was conducted through simulation in order to indicate the relationship between social network and P2P systems. The experimental results show some degree of consistence with our hypotheses. To conclude, this study may be of importance in explaining how the characteristics of social networks are used to beef up the query process in P2P system.