Social Behaviors and Social Networks
In today’s well connected society it is understandable that long ties make the spread of things such as disease much easier. If someone were to get sick in New York then fly to Los Angeles, they could spread there disease to everyone on the plane and anyone they meet in the LA. Anyone on that plane could also continue to spread that disease to other people, on other planes in other cities. However, as the article discusses, this doesn’t seem to be the case for social behaviors. Social behaviors are more complex than diseases in several ways. One reason is that people will generally choose to follow a social behavior while a disease can affect anyone. Another difference is that social behaviors and trends will generally need a more consistent following in order to catch on.
We discussed long ties and clustered networks in class and this article really hinges on these concepts. The study found that social behaviors spread quicker through clustered networks than randomly. This makes sense because individuals in clustered networks tend to have things in common. Whether their friends or co-workers, clustered networks spread social trends much quicker than long ties. As this article notes, individuals are more likely to follow a social behavior if there are other people closer to them also following the social behavior. This can make the individual feel more comfortable or make it seem more worthwhile to go along with what everyone else is doing. What makes this article particularly interesting however is that it notes the importance of online social networks and the role they’ve played and continue to do so on topics such as social diffusion. Because our society is constantly changing, becoming increasingly connected and intertwined, we will continue to find new trends of social behavior as we progress towards a more connected society.