A Decoupled Embedding-Based Framework for Efficient Node Classification on Social Networks

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5753/jisa.2026.7105

Keywords:

Embedding, Graph Representation, Social Network, Machine Learning

Abstract

Graph-based learning has become a cornerstone for analyzing complex relationships in domains such as social networks. However, most existing solutions rely on Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), which often require high computational resources, careful parameter tuning, and extensive training time. In this paper, we propose a decoupled learning framework for node classification that replaces end-to-end deep graph architectures with latent structural embeddings and conventional machine-learning models. Our method generates low-dimensional node embeddings and then applies classifiers such as logistic regression, KNN, and random forests to predict node categories. By structurally decoupling the embedding and classification stages, our approach achieves competitive performance while drastically reducing memory complexity and training time. Experimental results on multiple social network datasets demonstrate that our method offers a scalable, interpretable alternative to deep GNN models.

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Author Biography

Rafael L. Gomes, State University of Ceará

Rafael Lopes Gomes is an Associate Professor of State University of Ceará (UECE) and has a Productivity Technological Development and Innovative Extension Scholarship of CNPq (DT - Level 2). Currently, he is the coordinator of the Laboratory of Computer Networks and Security (LARCES). He received a Ph.D degree in Computer Science from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil. He was a research visitor at Network Research Lab from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2014. He has experience and R&D projects on the following topics: Network Management, Cybersecurity, Software Defined Networks, Resilience Planning, Wireless Networks and Internet of Things.

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Published

2026-05-29

How to Cite

Nascimento, E. S., Pimenta, I. A., Lee, M. H., de Araujo, T., & Gomes, R. L. (2026). A Decoupled Embedding-Based Framework for Efficient Node Classification on Social Networks. Journal of Internet Services and Applications, 17(1), 214–223. https://doi.org/10.5753/jisa.2026.7105

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Research article