Do social networks affect your health?
In a study done at Harvard it was shown that social networks have a very big impact on the people that are involved in them. The two main topics that were tested were weight and happiness. It was found that if someone close to an individual such as a sibling (strong tie) became obese it was very likely for the individual being observed to also become obese. The study also found that happiness was also spread across close friends and especially of members of the same sex (another strong tie). Both of these show how certain things can influence people that are connected across strong ties.
Certain occurrences like these are very likely to be found in many type of real life social networks such as friend, facebook, the internet etc. If these networks are studied in depth new discoveries can be made to try to improve public health and help society grow.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/social-networks-can-affect-weight-happiness-201112163983