A Causal Test of the Strength of Weak Ties
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4476
In the research article, the authors explored the “People you May Know” option on LinkedIn to determine if weak ties created this way provide ample job opportunities. With LinkedIn being a professional network for accessible relationships between people and employers, LinkedIn has become a main source for job hunting via one’s connections. These researchers chose to analyze the strength of the weak ties created in LinkedIn and how they work in various industries.
From the research conducted, it was found that the strength of weak ties had no linearity, and depended on a case by case basis on LinkedIn. It was found that weak ties increased job transmission, but only to a certain extent. This supports the Goldilocks Hypothesis when it comes to weak connections, as too strong or too weak of a weak connection reduces one’s job mobility. It was also discovered that weak ties through mutual connections were most likely to provide one with a job opportunity, versus other weak connections that could be made within certain industries. Even within the different industries had different strengths of weak connections. The researchers found that the importance of the strength of a weak tie was dependent on whether the industry was digital or not.
In digital-based industries, weak ties put those in the industry at an advantage, but did not for less digital industries. This can be because of the way connections in digital industries tend to be more technologically based, where LinkedIn would be a more common app used, allowing for weak connections to provide potential job opportunities. Non-digital industries depend on strong ties between one another for job opportunities, which can prevent those from reaching further opportunities that the weak ties would provide.
The importance of weak ties and connections are shown in the usage of LinkedIn, a common app that many people use in this day and age. The importance of strong and weak ties that we learned in Networks can be applied to social networking, and can be advantageous when it comes to finding new opportunities. Weak ties are often found to be important in Strong Triadic Closures, which bridges the gap between two people who are close to one mutual friend. These connections that are common in LinkedIn have increased the amount of connections and new jobs created on LinkedIn, thanks to an algorithm that connects you with people your friends are close to. LinkedIn takes the importance of strong and weak ties to form new connections and provide a job market to all through the usage of networking.