Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues, (University of Porto) from the NodeXL team has created a sample network file that attempts to highlight the functions and applications of the social media network analysis toolkit.  The latest release of NodeXL now contains this sample file:

In this map nodes represent the major feature groups and functions in the NodeXL application.

This map will become the default file that will open when you run NodeXL for the first time.  You will see a dialog like this:

Select Yes to have the graph above imported into the workbook.  You can then display the graph using the Show Graph button in the NodeXL menu ribbon.

After that, it will be available via the help menus. When you import the file, all of the data is also available in the spreadsheet part of NodeXL so that you can experiment with changing values there to see the impact in the graph display after you hit the “refresh graphs” button.

Over the coming weeks we plan to release additional sample network data sets that illustrate key concepts and methods in network science.  Suggestions for sample networks are welcome!