Network Science in Three Important Ways

1. By focusing on the properties of real-world networks, it is concerned with empirical as well as theoretical questions
2. It frequently takes the view that networks are not static, but evolve in time according to various dynamical rules
3. It aims, ultimately at least, to understand networks not just as topological objects, but also as the framework upon which distributed dynamical systems are built.

(Reference: The Structure and Dynamics of Networks/ Mark Newman, Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, and Duncan J. Watts)