Managing connections between real world and virtual world communities

An information processing system for managing connections between a virtual world and a social network, the information processing system comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor communicatively coupled to the memory;
• and
• a community manager module communicatively coupled to the memory and the processor, wherein the community manager module comprises:
• a graphing module adapted for:
• analyzing a set of virtual world information associated with a virtual world and a set of social network information associated with a social network;
• generating, based on the analyzing, a graph comprising a plurality of vertices, wherein each vertex represents a respective one of virtual world information in the set of virtual world information and social network information in the set of social network information, and wherein each vertex is coupled to at least one other vertex by a respective edge, at least one edge of the graph coupling a first vertex representing virtual world information and a second vertex representing social network information, thereby connecting the virtual world information to the social network information;
• an articulation point identifier for:
• determining, based on the generating, that at least one vertex in the plurality of vertices is an articulation point having a respective edge, wherein the removal of the respective edge of the articulation point causes disconnection of the virtual world information from the social network information within the graph;
• and
• a notifier for:
• notifying, via a graphical user interface in response to the determining, a user associated with at least one of the virtual world information and the social network information that the graph comprises the articulation point.

A computer program product for managing connections between a virtual world and a social network, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to analyze a set of virtual world information associated with a virtual world and a set of social network information associated with a social network;
• computer readable program code configured to generate, based on the analyzing, a graph comprising a plurality of vertices, wherein each vertex represents a respective one of virtual world information in the set of virtual world information and social network information in the set of social network information, and wherein each vertex is coupled to at least one other vertex by a respective edge, at least one edge of the graph coupling a first vertex representing virtual world information and a second vertex representing social network information, thereby connecting the virtual world information to the social network information;
• computer readable program code configured to determine, based on the generating, that at least one vertex in the plurality of vertices is an articulation point having a respective edge, wherein the removal of the respective edge of the articulation point causes disconnection of the virtual world information from the social network information within the graph;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to notify, via a graphical user interface in response to the determining, a user associated with at least one of the virtual world information and the social network information that the graph comprises the articulation point.