diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/EdgeDirection.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/EdgeDirection.scala
index 9d37f6513f5ce6524d6c0c97201de0a709f64ec7..5b58a61bbd8fb9e093582ffe80572df87d36d9ce 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/EdgeDirection.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/EdgeDirection.scala
@@ -6,11 +6,12 @@ package org.apache.spark.graphx
 class EdgeDirection private (private val name: String) extends Serializable {
   /**
    * Reverse the direction of an edge.  An in becomes out,
-   * out becomes in and both remains both.
+   * out becomes in and both and either remain the same.
    */
   def reverse: EdgeDirection = this match {
     case EdgeDirection.In   => EdgeDirection.Out
     case EdgeDirection.Out  => EdgeDirection.In
+    case EdgeDirection.Either => EdgeDirection.Either
     case EdgeDirection.Both => EdgeDirection.Both
   }
 
@@ -32,6 +33,9 @@ object EdgeDirection {
   /** Edges originating from a vertex. */
   final val Out = new EdgeDirection("Out")
 
-  /** All edges adjacent to a vertex. */
+  /** Edges originating from *or* arriving at a vertex of interest. */
+  final val Either = new EdgeDirection("Either")
+
+  /** Edges originating from *and* arriving at a vertex of interest. */
   final val Both = new EdgeDirection("Both")
 }
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Graph.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Graph.scala
index 7d4f0de3d6f07faabd96d8e1fd3483a72391b0b1..49705fdf5d6e0eb4fcffd9ece85b7bfd981d2390 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Graph.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Graph.scala
@@ -274,9 +274,12 @@ abstract class Graph[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag] {
    * of the map phase
    *
    * @param activeSetOpt optionally, a set of "active" vertices and a direction of edges to consider
-   * when running `mapFunc`. For example, if the direction is Out, `mapFunc` will only be run on
-   * edges originating from vertices in the active set. The active set must have the same index as
-   * the graph's vertices.
+   * when running `mapFunc`. If the direction is `In`, `mapFunc` will only be run on edges with
+   * destination in the active set.  If the direction is `Out`, `mapFunc` will only be run on edges
+   * originating from vertices in the active set. If the direction is `Either`, `mapFunc` will be
+   * run on edges with *either* vertex in the active set. If the direction is `Both`, `mapFunc` will
+   * be run on edges with *both* vertices in the active set. The active set must have the same index
+   * as the graph's vertices.
    *
    * @example We can use this function to compute the in-degree of each
    * vertex
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOps.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOps.scala
index 578eb331c1dda32e7a6e40b17edb6eaf69705131..66d5180020a8ccac38419a6887c88cee09b2fbc1 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOps.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOps.scala
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class GraphOps[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]) {
    * The degree of each vertex in the graph.
    * @note Vertices with no edges are not returned in the resulting RDD.
    */
-  lazy val degrees: VertexRDD[Int] = degreesRDD(EdgeDirection.Both)
+  lazy val degrees: VertexRDD[Int] = degreesRDD(EdgeDirection.Either)
 
   /**
    * Computes the neighboring vertex degrees.
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class GraphOps[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]) {
       graph.mapReduceTriplets(et => Iterator((et.dstId,1)), _ + _)
     } else if (edgeDirection == EdgeDirection.Out) {
       graph.mapReduceTriplets(et => Iterator((et.srcId,1)), _ + _)
-    } else { // EdgeDirection.both
+    } else { // EdgeDirection.Either
       graph.mapReduceTriplets(et => Iterator((et.srcId,1), (et.dstId,1)), _ + _)
     }
   }
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class GraphOps[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]) {
    */
   def collectNeighborIds(edgeDirection: EdgeDirection): VertexRDD[Array[VertexID]] = {
     val nbrs =
-      if (edgeDirection == EdgeDirection.Both) {
+      if (edgeDirection == EdgeDirection.Either) {
         graph.mapReduceTriplets[Array[VertexID]](
           mapFunc = et => Iterator((et.srcId, Array(et.dstId)), (et.dstId, Array(et.srcId))),
           reduceFunc = _ ++ _
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ class GraphOps[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]) {
           mapFunc = et => Iterator((et.dstId, Array(et.srcId))),
           reduceFunc = _ ++ _)
       } else {
-        throw new SparkException("It doesn't make sense to collect neighbor ids without a direction.")
+        throw new SparkException("It doesn't make sense to collect neighbor ids without a " +
+          "direction. (EdgeDirection.Both is not supported; use EdgeDirection.Either instead.)")
       }
     graph.vertices.leftZipJoin(nbrs) { (vid, vdata, nbrsOpt) =>
       nbrsOpt.getOrElse(Array.empty[VertexID])
@@ -100,11 +101,19 @@ class GraphOps[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]) {
    */
   def collectNeighbors(edgeDirection: EdgeDirection): VertexRDD[Array[(VertexID, VD)]] = {
     val nbrs = graph.mapReduceTriplets[Array[(VertexID,VD)]](
-      edge => Iterator(
-        (edge.srcId, Array((edge.dstId, edge.dstAttr))),
-        (edge.dstId, Array((edge.srcId, edge.srcAttr)))),
-      (a, b) => a ++ b,
-      edgeDirection)
+      edge => {
+        val msgToSrc = (edge.srcId, Array((edge.dstId, edge.dstAttr)))
+        val msgToDst = (edge.dstId, Array((edge.srcId, edge.srcAttr)))
+        edgeDirection match {
+          case EdgeDirection.Either => Iterator(msgToSrc, msgToDst)
+          case EdgeDirection.In => Iterator(msgToDst)
+          case EdgeDirection.Out => Iterator(msgToSrc)
+          case EdgeDirection.Both =>
+            throw new SparkException("collectNeighbors does not support EdgeDirection.Both. Use" +
+              "EdgeDirection.Either instead.")
+        }
+      },
+      (a, b) => a ++ b)
 
     graph.vertices.leftZipJoin(nbrs) { (vid, vdata, nbrsOpt) =>
       nbrsOpt.getOrElse(Array.empty[(VertexID, VD)])
@@ -237,7 +246,7 @@ class GraphOps[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]) {
   def pregel[A: ClassTag](
       initialMsg: A,
       maxIterations: Int = Int.MaxValue,
-      activeDirection: EdgeDirection = EdgeDirection.Out)(
+      activeDirection: EdgeDirection = EdgeDirection.Either)(
       vprog: (VertexID, VD, A) => VD,
       sendMsg: EdgeTriplet[VD, ED] => Iterator[(VertexID,A)],
       mergeMsg: (A, A) => A)
@@ -271,8 +280,8 @@ class GraphOps[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]) {
    *
    * @see [[org.apache.spark.graphx.lib.ConnectedComponents]]
    */
-  def connectedComponents(undirected: Boolean = true): Graph[VertexID, ED] = {
-    ConnectedComponents.run(graph, undirected)
+  def connectedComponents(): Graph[VertexID, ED] = {
+    ConnectedComponents.run(graph)
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Pregel.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Pregel.scala
index 83e28d0ab2c533c588262f240eacde9377ae718a..75b44ddac99d8e4aa3f88f7edf9af8496832c6fd 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Pregel.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/Pregel.scala
@@ -67,7 +67,10 @@ object Pregel {
    *
    * @param activeDirection the direction of edges incident to a vertex that received a message in
    * the previous round on which to run `sendMsg`. For example, if this is `EdgeDirection.Out`, only
-   * out-edges of vertices that received a message in the previous round will run.
+   * out-edges of vertices that received a message in the previous round will run. The default is
+   * `EdgeDirection.Either`, which will run `sendMsg` on edges where either side received a message
+   * in the previous round. If this is `EdgeDirection.Both`, `sendMsg` will only run on edges where
+   * *both* vertices received a message.
    *
    * @param vprog the user-defined vertex program which runs on each
    * vertex and receives the inbound message and computes a new vertex
@@ -90,7 +93,7 @@ object Pregel {
    */
   def apply[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag, A: ClassTag]
     (graph: Graph[VD, ED], initialMsg: A, maxIterations: Int = Int.MaxValue,
-      activeDirection: EdgeDirection = EdgeDirection.Out)(
+      activeDirection: EdgeDirection = EdgeDirection.Either)(
       vprog: (VertexID, VD, A) => VD,
       sendMsg: EdgeTriplet[VD, ED] => Iterator[(VertexID,A)],
       mergeMsg: (A, A) => A)
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/GraphImpl.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/GraphImpl.scala
index 6a2abc71ccbbba4bc80924c0f0e5873805f8e898..c21f8935d9c5f23674beacc86550492fb96e415f 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/GraphImpl.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/impl/GraphImpl.scala
@@ -275,6 +275,10 @@ class GraphImpl[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag] protected (
           } else {
             edgePartition.iterator.filter(e => vPart.isActive(e.srcId) && vPart.isActive(e.dstId))
           }
+        case Some(EdgeDirection.Either) =>
+          // TODO: Because we only have a clustered index on the source vertex ID, we can't filter
+          // the index here. Instead we have to scan all edges and then do the filter.
+          edgePartition.iterator.filter(e => vPart.isActive(e.srcId) || vPart.isActive(e.dstId))
         case Some(EdgeDirection.Out) =>
           if (activeFraction < 0.8) {
             edgePartition.indexIterator(srcVertexID => vPart.isActive(srcVertexID))
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponents.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponents.scala
index d078d2acdbc61dc36b280aa611dc7300b6821866..d057c933d7671b393b0a97f14c4e68b6f59f22c7 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponents.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponents.scala
@@ -19,37 +19,22 @@ object ConnectedComponents {
    * @return a graph with vertex attributes containing the smallest vertex in each
    *         connected component
    */
-  def run[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED], undirected: Boolean = true):
+  def run[VD: ClassTag, ED: ClassTag](graph: Graph[VD, ED]):
     Graph[VertexID, ED] = {
     val ccGraph = graph.mapVertices { case (vid, _) => vid }
-    if (undirected) {
-      def sendMessage(edge: EdgeTriplet[VertexID, ED]) = {
-        if (edge.srcAttr < edge.dstAttr) {
-          Iterator((edge.dstId, edge.srcAttr))
-        } else if (edge.srcAttr > edge.dstAttr) {
-          Iterator((edge.srcId, edge.dstAttr))
-        } else {
-          Iterator.empty
-        }
+    def sendMessage(edge: EdgeTriplet[VertexID, ED]) = {
+      if (edge.srcAttr < edge.dstAttr) {
+        Iterator((edge.dstId, edge.srcAttr))
+      } else if (edge.srcAttr > edge.dstAttr) {
+        Iterator((edge.srcId, edge.dstAttr))
+      } else {
+        Iterator.empty
       }
-      val initialMessage = Long.MaxValue
-      Pregel(ccGraph, initialMessage, activeDirection = EdgeDirection.Both)(
-        vprog = (id, attr, msg) => math.min(attr, msg),
-        sendMsg = sendMessage,
-        mergeMsg = (a, b) => math.min(a, b))
-    } else {
-      def sendMessage(edge: EdgeTriplet[VertexID, ED]) = {
-        if (edge.srcAttr < edge.dstAttr) {
-          Iterator((edge.dstId, edge.srcAttr))
-        } else {
-          Iterator.empty
-        }
-      }
-      val initialMessage = Long.MaxValue
-      Pregel(ccGraph, initialMessage, activeDirection = EdgeDirection.Out)(
-        vprog = (id, attr, msg) => math.min(attr, msg),
-        sendMsg = sendMessage,
-        mergeMsg = (a, b) => math.min(a, b))
     }
+    val initialMessage = Long.MaxValue
+    Pregel(ccGraph, initialMessage, activeDirection = EdgeDirection.Either)(
+      vprog = (id, attr, msg) => math.min(attr, msg),
+      sendMsg = sendMessage,
+      mergeMsg = (a, b) => math.min(a, b))
   } // end of connectedComponents
 }
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/PageRank.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/PageRank.scala
index cf95267e77489bb2d97d50827700da05b90d0b26..6ced2462eb1d9677b5b839f49ae2a396f6995c21 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/PageRank.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/PageRank.scala
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ object PageRank extends Logging {
     val initialMessage = 0.0
 
     // Execute pregel for a fixed number of iterations.
-    Pregel(pagerankGraph, initialMessage, numIter)(
+    Pregel(pagerankGraph, initialMessage, numIter, activeDirection = EdgeDirection.Out)(
       vertexProgram, sendMessage, messageCombiner)
   }
 
@@ -153,7 +153,8 @@ object PageRank extends Logging {
     val initialMessage = resetProb / (1.0 - resetProb)
 
     // Execute a dynamic version of Pregel.
-    Pregel(pagerankGraph, initialMessage)(vertexProgram, sendMessage, messageCombiner)
+    Pregel(pagerankGraph, initialMessage, activeDirection = EdgeDirection.Out)(
+      vertexProgram, sendMessage, messageCombiner)
       .mapVertices((vid, attr) => attr._1)
   } // end of deltaPageRank
 
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/StronglyConnectedComponents.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/StronglyConnectedComponents.scala
index 43c4b9cf2d2eb4cda02a5ded1a622789e4c45d0f..edffbcc5ac9497f97583dfc6599ee4a26a649e7d 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/StronglyConnectedComponents.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/StronglyConnectedComponents.scala
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ object StronglyConnectedComponents {
 
       // collect min of all my neighbor's scc values, update if it's smaller than mine
       // then notify any neighbors with scc values larger than mine
-      sccWorkGraph = Pregel[(VertexID, Boolean), ED, VertexID](sccWorkGraph, Long.MaxValue)(
+      sccWorkGraph = Pregel[(VertexID, Boolean), ED, VertexID](
+        sccWorkGraph, Long.MaxValue, activeDirection = EdgeDirection.Out)(
         (vid, myScc, neighborScc) => (math.min(myScc._1, neighborScc), myScc._2),
         e => {
           if (e.srcId < e.dstId) {
diff --git a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/TriangleCount.scala b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/TriangleCount.scala
index 58da9e3aedb32463357ecdbef033f8974152a7da..d3e22b176c9615644da290f2f6d084118657c250 100644
--- a/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/TriangleCount.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/TriangleCount.scala
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ object TriangleCount {
 
     // Construct set representations of the neighborhoods
     val nbrSets: VertexRDD[VertexSet] =
-      g.collectNeighborIds(EdgeDirection.Both).mapValues { (vid, nbrs) =>
+      g.collectNeighborIds(EdgeDirection.Either).mapValues { (vid, nbrs) =>
         val set = new VertexSet(4)
         var i = 0
         while (i < nbrs.size) {
diff --git a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOpsSuite.scala b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOpsSuite.scala
index 7a901409d5aa5342b6facab16e4b1589cf08f2f7..280f50e39aa5f4f41c536e8d846b36c5ec82af5b 100644
--- a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOpsSuite.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/GraphOpsSuite.scala
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class GraphOpsSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
       val chain = (0 until 100).map(x => (x, (x+1)%100) )
       val rawEdges = sc.parallelize(chain, 3).map { case (s,d) => (s.toLong, d.toLong) }
       val graph = Graph.fromEdgeTuples(rawEdges, 1.0).cache()
-      val nbrs = graph.collectNeighborIds(EdgeDirection.Both).cache()
+      val nbrs = graph.collectNeighborIds(EdgeDirection.Either).cache()
       assert(nbrs.count === chain.size)
       assert(graph.numVertices === nbrs.count)
       nbrs.collect.foreach { case (vid, nbrs) => assert(nbrs.size === 2) }
diff --git a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/PregelSuite.scala b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/PregelSuite.scala
index 1ff3d75633f22adf048a000d4e770fd506c6558f..bceff11b8e6c42e50dff6d8a111c6ebcb4c5ec32 100644
--- a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/PregelSuite.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/PregelSuite.scala
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class PregelSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
         Set((1: VertexID, 1)) ++ (2 to n).map(x => (x: VertexID, 0)).toSet)
       val result = Pregel(chainWithSeed, 0)(
         (vid, attr, msg) => math.max(msg, attr),
-        et => Iterator((et.dstId, et.srcAttr)),
+        et => if (et.dstAttr != et.srcAttr) Iterator((et.dstId, et.srcAttr)) else Iterator.empty,
         (a: Int, b: Int) => math.max(a, b))
       assert(result.vertices.collect.toSet ===
         chain.vertices.mapValues { (vid, attr) => attr + 1 }.collect.toSet)
diff --git a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponentsSuite.scala b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponentsSuite.scala
index 86da8f1b4641e90e0c825282f2e415cd975a63d2..27c8705bca2ff98cab2f9b9f359ebd578aa7d9ec 100644
--- a/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponentsSuite.scala
+++ b/graphx/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/graphx/lib/ConnectedComponentsSuite.scala
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class ConnectedComponentsSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
       val defaultUser = ("John Doe", "Missing")
       // Build the initial Graph
       val graph = Graph(users, relationships, defaultUser)
-      val ccGraph = graph.connectedComponents(undirected = true)
+      val ccGraph = graph.connectedComponents()
       val vertices = ccGraph.vertices.collect
       for ( (id, cc) <- vertices ) {
         assert(cc == 0)