The Importance of Having a Large Social Network
This article tells us about the importance of having a wide network in all of our lives— for professional reasons but also personal growth. The author starts by discussing an anecdote we touched on in class that reveals a great deal about the influence of networks: how most jobs come from a weaker connection. In this case, the author put a job plea out on twitter and a “friend of a friend” answered the call. This is a perfect illustration of the benefits of having access to new networks. In this case, if the author hadn’t put out a call to her network of friends, she wouldn’t have been able to access some of the opportunities the network of her friend had access to and maybe would still be out of a job. This relates to the concept of a local bridge from one node to another, as they often link one another to a larger group they weren’t apart of, where more information and resources are available. This allows both to benefit when it comes to finding opportunities.
The author then focuses on the more personal side of things by discussing psychological studies that show the power of weak ties in people’s lives. For example, having many weak ties–feeling connected to others– often make people feel more happy and empathetic, and also less lonely. This can be an important thing when we get older, as she points out that as adults get older, they often lose part of their network. Further, just making causal conversation is a good way to change up routine, as psychology professor Dr. Sandstrom in the article put it, “It’s a good thing to spice things up,” Most people have been in situations where they make awkward eye-contact with a stranger in the library and instead of quickly looking down, maybe we all should take the opportunity to make a new weak connection. As we learned in class, networks can be a valuable resource when we are looking for new opportunities or, as the article points out, even to just improve the quality of our lives.