Weak ties

Thirty-five years ago, sociologist Mark Granovetter’s wrote an academic article entitled The Strength of Weak Ties that explains why online social networking is so important.

Granovetter found that inevitably, people get their jobs through personal contacts, not personnel departments. The surprise finding was that it’s not who you know that’s important; it’s who they know.

Imagine your network looks like this:

Your close ties are friends and acquaintances you talk with frequently. They are on your speed-dial short list. They’re not likely to be much help in connecting you to jobs or anything else, because they don’t know much you don’t already know. Your knowledge and theirs overlap as in a nearly total eclipse.

People who are one or two links removed from you are members of networks you don’t even know about. These close ties or your close ties are out of your circle. This is where your next job or other outside opportunity is going to come from.