Temporal graphs anomaly emergence detection: benchmarking for social media interactions

Abstract Temporal graphs have become an essential tool for analyzing complex dynamic systems with multiple agents. Detecting anomalies in temporal graphs is crucial for various applications, including identifying emerging trends, monitoring network security, understanding social dynamics, tracking disease outbreaks, and understanding financial dynamics. In this paper, we present a comprehensive benchmarking study that compares 12 data-driven methods for anomaly detection in temporal graphs. We conduct experiments on two temporal graphs extracted from Twitter and Facebook, aiming to identify anomalies in group interactions. Surprisingly, our study reveals an unclear pattern regarding the best method for such tasks, highlighting the complexity and challenges involved in anomaly emergence detection in large and dynamic systems. The results underscore the need for further research and innovative approaches to effectively detect emerging anomalies in dynamic systems represented as temporal graphs.