Small Worlds was like an extension of The Connected Age, and talked about clusters, connectors, as well as the importance of acquaintances. Additionally, Erdos-Renyis’ ‘random social world’ perspective is rejected.

The reading emphasised the importance of ‘weak social ties’ for a number of reasons. Weak ties enable us to communicate with the rest of the world, receive new information, hear about job openings, and link us to other clusters. Since people with whom we have strong social ties are likely to be apart of our own cluster, they are unlikely to offer us the kinds of things acquaintances are.

When considering the internet, we can observe some flaws in Erdos-Renyi random view. The web provides a platform for expression, but not equal opportunity as some people/institutions may be more connected than others. Sites that are frequented more often like Google and YouTube can be seen as hubs as people are more likely to consult these webpages than others. It reminds me of George Orwell’s quote, ‘All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others’.