<p>Network theory has been highly informative across multiple fields of research that have been intensively studied in social insects. These include the study of social networks in insect societies, and the formalization of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) involved in social insect development and behavior. Though these fields remain distinct, integrating them such that the interaction between network properties and the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in social behavior is a goal of sociobiology. Here we outline key examples of the use of both social networks and GRNs in the study of social insects, and three key ways in which the two may be integrated across multiples levels of biology and different time-scales. Firstly, we suggest that node, or individual, properties in a social network may be treated as phenotypic traits in transcriptomic analyses, relating complex social attributes to GRNs. Secondly, we suggest that the mechanistic study of the influence of GRNs within neuronal circuits involved in social behaviors is becoming increasingly available to the study&#xa0;of non-model social insects, through the availability of new methods of transcriptomics and spatial visualization. Finally, we suggest that the method of studying indirect genetic effects through genome wide association studies under different social environments, could integrate social network attributes of individuals. Each of these approaches represents a link between a gene regulatory network, and the social networks in which individual social insects are imbedded.</p>