Ideas From Wk 8 Reading; Barabåsi- Small Worlds- The Importance Of Weak Social Ties
We are linked to each other/new ideas/opportunities/work/play by a few weak ties – acquaintances belonging to different circles of friends.
BOLD LINES VS> WEAK TIES- weak ties play a crucial role in our ability to communicate with the outside world, beyond our immediate ‘bubble’
close friends in our ‘bubble’ move in the same circles as we do so inevitably are exposed to the same information- less room for development. So for new experiences, information and opportunities we intrinsically seek, we have to activate our weak ties.
the stronger the ties between two people, the larger the overlap between their circles of friends.
A subtle urge to synchronise is pervasive in nature- ‘liking’ ‘following’ ‘tagging’—rhythmic applause. individual behaviour connects and aggregates to collective behaviour.
Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/- a peculiar subset of society regularly publishes their social ties- connections-igniting links- activating weak ties.
Humans have an inborn desire to form cliques and clusters that offer familiarity safety and intimacy- e.g ‘hi you’re in my Tuesday lecture…’ add as friend.
‘sprinkled among every walk of life …. are a handful of individuals with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances’- they are CONNECTORS- nodes with an anomalously large number of links.
not so much a small world after all, more of a mathematic social mess.
