  This paper considers the parameter estimation problem in Mixed Membership
Stochastic Block Model (MMSB), which is a quite general instance of random
graph model allowing for overlapping community structure. We present the new
algorithm successive projection overlapping clustering (SPOC) which combines
the ideas of spectral clustering and geometric approach for separable
non-negative matrix factorization. The proposed algorithm is provably
consistent under MMSB with general conditions on the parameters of the model.
SPOC is also shown to perform well experimentally in comparison to other
algorithms.
