Social Media and the Global Friendship Network
Article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/social-networks-cant-afford-to-lose-too-many-friends-1533996001
As we all know, social media is a critical component of the practices that define the culture of much of the world in the 21stcentury. The ease of using a computer or phone and being able to instantly communicate with people hundreds of thousands of miles away has allowed us to advance as a society at an exponential rate in very recent history. At the heart of this are the many different social media platforms that allow for the transmission of this information. But what exactly makes a particular platform more valuable than others?
In this article by The Wall Street Journal, it is discussed that a decline in user-ship on the platform “Twitter” has led to a decrease in its economic valuation as a company. But why is that? The answer lies in the percent of the Global Friendship Network that a specific social media platform captures. In other words, the more people that use a network, then the more this social network contributes to increasing the connectivity of the Global Friendship Network, which is allows for a much more rapid spread of information, making the platform more valuable (both figuratively and literally in terms of economic valuation). This article connects our in-class discussion to a very important real-world scenario pertaining to business and economics. The more connected that a social network allows for us to be, then the more economic and social value that it will have to society as a whole.