IT Companies pursuing Strong Triadic Closure in the Modern World
Article: Infosys Launches Social Networking Platform For Employees “Infosys Bubble”
SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/alliegaines/Desktop/INFO%202040/Blogs/BlogPost1.doc
As discussed in class, strong triadic closure is defined as the property when some node X has strong ties to both nodes Y and Z, then nodes Y and Z must have an edge in the graph connecting them that is either strong or weak. For example, say Employee A has a strong tie with Employee B and separately with Employee C. Employees B and C are also most likely also connected, and if not they probably should be, because of the strong relations they both have with A. There are other offshoots of this property that are more applicable and relatable to real world situations. I have found one interpretation particularly that seems to be a pertinent link between the course material of Economics 2040 at Cornell and company culture in the developing world of communication technology. This eludes that the two parties strongly connected to a shared resource will want to link together the triad and achieve closure in the relationship network.
This summer I interned at Infosys Technologies Limited in Bangalore, India. I quickly learned that the company frequently used social media to promote connectivity between employees. Such activity involved company dance classes, sports tournaments, volunteer field trips, cooking competitions; there were actually over 100 clubs on the Bangalore campus alone! Recently, I found the article shared at the start of this post about Infy’s very own social networking platform: Infy Bubble. This site is modeled after Facebook, aiming to allow employees to share their thoughts, emotions, pictures and more. Infosys company management admits the creation of this platform was a direct response to the realized need for better communication among the Infosys employees, nicknamed Infosicons. With further investigation and research, the management team noticed that not only were stronger relations needed, they were wanted by the employees. The article also described the implementation of other communication technologies such as company-exclusive radio and TV stations.
Thus far in Economics 2040, we have discussed the Strong Triadic Closure as a trait: if A is strongly tied to B and C, then B and C must have a tie of any strength. It is interesting to see this property translate into the real world and become a desire in the eyes of one type of stakeholder and a demand in the other. Infosys, as well as many other large corporations pursuing a stronger company culture, interpret Triadic Closure more like the theorem in the class book by Easley and Kleinberg.
If two people in a social network have a friend in common, then there is an increased likelihood that they will become friends themselves at some point in the future [347].
Infosys has developed Infy Bubble and other such internal communication technologies to play off of the likelihood that friends of friends will become friends. The incentive to bring their employees closer together is to try to further comfort and ultimately productivity in the workplace. With over 90,000 employees in locations not only all over India, but all around the world, Infosys can really benefit from the research and conclusions drawn from the Triadic Closure Property.
To learn more about Infosys Technologies, check out their website here!
You can learn a lot about the applications of relationship networks through the innovations and company culture brought about by Infosicons.
– Miss Piggy