  Social networks are the fabric of society and the subject of frequent visual
analysis. Closed triads represent triangular relationships between three people
in a social network and are significant for understanding inherent
interconnections and influence within the network. The most common methods for
representing social networks (node-link diagrams and adjacency matrices) are
not optimal for understanding triangles. We propose extending the adjacency
matrix form to 3D for better visualization of network triads. We design a 3D
matrix reordering technique and implement an immersive interactive system to
assist in visualizing and analyzing closed triads in social networks. A user
study and usage scenarios demonstrate that our method provides substantial
added value over node-link diagrams in improving the efficiency and accuracy of
manipulating and understanding the social network triads.
