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A brief introduction to network theory which introduces my COMM 620 MBA class to three different strands of research explaining the context within which digital tools are used.
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Network Theory The Essentials
Michael Netzley, PhD http://communicateasia.asia
Networks are the context in which “shiny objects”
are used.
Twitter & Queenstown
We are Social Creatures
We Live in Networks
Decentralized Networks
Where is the head on the following spiders?
Begin with a Strong Foundation
Research Says
Harvard Med School: Emotions Spread Through Large Social Networks
Conclusion: People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon.
- British Medical Journal 337 (2008) Fowler and Christakis
Harvard Med School: Obesity Spreads Through Large Social Networks
“You may not know him personally, but your friend’s husband’s coworker can make you fat. And your sister’s friend’s boyfriend can make you thin.”
- Fowler and Christakis (2009) Connected
Harvard Political Scientist: Why Americans Vote
If you vote, then it increases the likelihood that your friend’s friend will also vote….Instead of each of us having only one vote, we effectively have several and therefore much more likely to influence the outcome.
- Fowler and Christakis (2009) Connected
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25
25
25
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155
Friend’s Friend’s Friend
Rule: Three Degrees of Influence
Rule: Connections need to be strong; you need not know the people.
TED Video
Influence Contagion
Research Says
Mark Granovetter & Weak Ties • The Strength of Weak Ties • #7 globally in Social
Science Citation Index, 2000-2010
• Action is enabled & constrained by social ties between people
• Where in the network matters (embedded)
The Concept of Embeddedness
Where Embedded?
Weak Ties: Defined
weak ties (acquaintances, not close friends) enable reaching populations and audiences that are not accessible via strong ties.
When to Use Weak Ties • Speed of Distribution • Less Dependent on Others • Reach Distant Targets with Whom We are
not Connected • Innovative Ideas or Models • Episodic Information Flows • Bridge Diverse Groups
When to Use Strong Ties • Urgent Situation • Dependency for Well Being • Decision Making • Ethos-Based Infuence • Acess: Doors Opened • Regular Information Flows • Change Target’s Values
Research Says
Manuel Castells • The Rise of the Network
Society • #5 globally in Social
Science Citation Index, 2000-2010
• Power now rests in networks: “the logic of the network is more powerful than the powers of the network”
Basic Idea
A network society is a society where the key social structures and activities are organized around electronically processed information networks. So it's not just about networks or social networks, because social networks have been very old forms of social organization. It's about social networks which process and manage information and are using micro-electronic based technologies.
Source
Society remains capitalist, but basis of the technological means by which it acts has changed from energy to information. This information is of central importance in determining economic productivity. Communications technologies allow for the annihilation of space and for globalization; the potential for rapid and asynchronous communication also changes the relationship to time. And, while he explains that networks are not a new form of social organization, they have become a “key feature of social morphology” (2000a, p. 5). This is because communication technologies, such as the Internet, allow for decentralization of operations and focusing of control, increasing the effectiveness of networks relative to hierarchical structures. Of business he writes, “[t]he main shift can be characterized as the shift from vertical bureaucracies to the horizontal corporation” (2000b, p. 176).
Source
Space of Flows: Facebook 2010
Space of Places
How We Now Organize
Societal elites are now much less connected to cities [places], and are
instead connected to information flows. Thus, the network serves as
our organizing principle.
Networks
Enable the free flow of
info
Expand Your R
esource B
ase
Pass
-Alo
ng
Effe
ct
Credibility: Peer Pass-Alongs are Influential
Embedded
in the N
etwork
Weak & Strong Ties
Peripheral
Cental
Bridging
Influencers
Tipping Point for Ideas: Just 10%?
• Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC)
• journal Physical Review E in an article titled “Social consensus through the influence of committed minorities.”
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.
Source
The Data
Due to influencers or influenceable?
Exercise