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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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