In my Consumer Behavior class we are reading a book called The Culture Code. The basis of the book is to look beyond each products, consumer, and try to figure out the reason or groups that can help us understand or market the products.
It got me thinking about social networks. While we can map out the networks to the best of our ability, there are always going to be connections that we don't see. That isn't a surprise to anyone. Clearly there are going to be people outside of the network that can be connected- ie. six degrees. But I wonder how strong those ties are. Is there a way to illustrate the strength of the ties? Are the closer ties really stronger than the ones that are say three or four degree away?
It is important to map out the networks, but I think that they can't show the real meaning of social networks. The network is influenced by so many variables. Variables for each individual and variables and pressures that affect the network as a whole. ...
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About Me
- Jill
- I'm a Senior at American University with a specialization in International Marketing and Management. I'm keeping this blog for one of my Social Networking Class at AU... Hope you enjoy reading!
1 comment:
To answer your first question, "Clearly there are going to be people outside of the network that can be connected- ie. six degrees. But I wonder how strong those ties are", not strong at all. There is little to no chance that the first will personally know the 6th person in the chain.
And yes, the closer ties are stronger than the ones that are three or four away because they have more in common. That is the reason they are next in the link because they share similar characteristics.
In my opinion, I think it's a waste of time to map out networks. You're right, they don't depict what is actually happening in real life. There are so many variables, as you said, or other options that the network is constantly changing and being updated.
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