Networks in the Cornell Freshman’s O-Week life, and why local bridges matter
The past few weeks in class we’ve begun to study networks and how principles of strong and weak ties can affect new connections established in any given social network. The textbook defines these 2 types of ties between nodes as having “the stronger links, corresponding to friends and weak ties corresponding to acquaintances” (Easley, Kleinberg 48). This definition is applicable to the social network formed by Cornell freshmen such as myself – especially during orientation week – as different social connections are more permanent and strong than others. In class so far we have also learned about the principle of triadic closure. The textbook states “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” (Easley, Kleinberg 62). This phenomenon of networking and meeting new friends through a mutual existing bond has occurred in my and many of my fellow freshmen’s lives the past few weeks at Cornell.
An example pertinent to the theory of triadic closure can be exhibited through the way in which I formed a strong tie to my friend A. I met my friend A through my neighbor (friend B). A was high school friends with my neighbor B and because we both shared a bridge (or friendship connection) to B, we had many opportunities to meet and form our own friendship through dining hall meals and time spent hanging out together with B. This is how many friendships in the freshman social network here at Cornell have been formed during orientation week. In fact, situations such as this one are probable as they satisfy the Strong Triadic Closure Property. The connection between me and my neighbor B was a strong tie (we live together and through our proximity had the opportunity to become close friends) , as was the tie my neighbor B shared with friend A from being high school friends. The presence of these two separate strong ties made it understandable that the edge between us was “especially likely to form” (Easley, Kleinberg 67). The completion of our primary freshman friendship network ultimately also satisfied the Structural Balance Property which states networks can either have exactly 1 positive bridge or exactly 3 positive bridges. In our case, our friendship network has 3 positive ties which makes it balanced.
While triadic closure is great for forming close bonded networks with our new classmates, the presence of local bridges proves to be equally important in the Cornell freshman’s daily social life. “We say that an edge joining two nodes A and B in a graph is a local bridge if its endpoints A and B have no friends in common” (Easley, Kleinberg 65). For example, tonight as I write this blog post many of my friends in the same network cited above happen to be celebrating the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. I do not observe this holiday so I found myself without my comfortable and usual dining hall plans tonight. However, this social issue subsided thanks to the presence of a local bridge linking me and the classmate that I sit next to in my FWS (we can refer to her as friend C). I have the contact for this acquaintance (C) and was able to get in touch with her to learn new information and get invited to dinner plans in Collegetown with her primary circle of friends. While the network of people I ended up eating with are just acquaintances with me, the presence of my local bridge to friend C is responsible for me not eating dinner alone in my room. These acquaintances boosted my happiness tonight at Cornell and this very notion can be explored further in a BBC.com article exploring “Why your ‘weak-tie’ friendships may mean more than you think” (https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200701-why-your-weak-tie-friendships-may-mean-more-than-you-think).
This article explores how while strong friendship networks are important, building wider networks of acquaintances can boost one’s sense of belonging to a new community – like the one I find myself in at Cornell. The creation of a network of acquaintances can make Cornell feel less overwhelming due to new opportunities and additional familiar faces on campus. The article shares that “For new information and ideas, weak ties are more important to us than strong ones” (Leslie 1). In class, we learned that these weak local bridges we share with acquaintances are more likely to introduce us to new information and resources to fill our social needs. Here at school (and in life in general) these local bridges connect students with new perspectives and people of diverse backgrounds. Additionally, the article notes that “Encounters with weak ties can be good for our mental wellbeing, too” (Leslie 1). If I hadn’t had dinner with the network of weak ties and acquaintances I met through the local bridge with my FWS classmate, I would have felt extremely lonely tonight. This idea of local bridges linking us to new information and groups of people is critical for freshmen at Cornell and is an outlet many of us turn to when the network we feel most comfortable in falls through. A lot of my friends in my primary friendship network here so far share many commonalities which include interests, knowledge, and similar schedules, so by also having weak bridges connecting to a new network, it provides me (and other freshman) alternate plans and resources while trying to acclimate socially to Cornell.
Sources:
Easley, David, and Jon Kleinberg. Networks, Crowds and Markets: Reasoning about a Highly Connected World. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
“Why Your ‘Weak-Tie’ Friendships May Mean More than You Think.” BBC Worklife, BBC, www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200701-why-your-weak-tie-friendships-may-mean-more-than-you-think.