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Chapter 1. In the Thick of It. The simplest network is a dyad or pair. Dyads agglomerate to form large interconnected webs. Line = a relationship between two people. more embedded = central. less embedded = periphery. Node = a person.
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Chapter 1 In the Thick of It
The simplest network is a dyad or pair Dyads agglomerate to form large interconnected webs
Line = a relationship between two people more embedded = central less embedded = periphery Node = a person “embedded”: the degree to which a person is connected within a network
The Bucket Brigade Mutual ties(flow in both directions) Linear Photo from FEMA
The Telephone Tree Reduces number of steps Information is directional (inbound and outbound ties) Creates cascade effect
The Military Squad Tightly interconnected groups Two-way tie between all members of squad Squad is more intra-connected than inter-connected with other squads
Terms A Social Network: consists of all the connections and ties within a group or collection of groups A group is a collection of individuals defined by a common attribute (it need not contain information about connections)
Terms The Shape of a network = its “structure” or “topology”
Terms • Contagion: what flows across ties • (germs, money, violence, fashions, • organs, happiness, obesity, etc.) • Connection: • who is connected to whom • (ties to family, friends, co-workers, etc.) • Homophily: • the tendency to associate with people who resemble ourselves • (“love of being alike”)
We shape our network We determine structure of our network: how many people we are connected to The average American has 4 close social contacts known as their “core discussion network” The same number of people can be arranged and connected in different ways, and have different topologies
We shape our network 2. We influence the density of interconnections between friends and family we introduce friends from separate groups to one another
We shape our network Are you the life of the party? Or the wall flower? 3. We control how “central” we are within the social network
Transitivity Transitivity: a relationship is transitive when all those involved know each other (form a triangle) Those with high transitivity (e.g. person A) are deeply embedded within a single group Those with low transitivity (e.g., person B) act as a bridge between different groups, connected with people who do not know one another
Influence Dyadic Spread: the tendency of effects to spread from one person to their direct social ties Hyperdyadic spread: the tendency of effects to spread from person to person to person (outside a person’s direct social ties) Contagion: what flows across ties (germs, money, violence, fashions, organs, happiness, obesity)
What Are You Looking At? Stanley Milgram’s sidewalk experiment exploring the importance of reinforcement from multiple people • Planted actors or “stimulus crowds” of different size to stare up at a window across the street • Passersby are filmed to record reactions--stop and stare/glance up • Crowd of 1: 4% of pedestrians stopped • Crowd of 15: 40% stopped, 86% glanced up • Crowd of 5 induced almost the same effect as 15+! Passersby were influenced in deciding to copy a behavior by the size of the crowd exhibiting it Photo by David Sim
Six Degrees of Separation Stanley Milgram experiment showing that people are all connected by an average of six steps • A citizen in Nebraska was instructed to mail a letter to someone who they thought would know a particular business man in Boston • The goal was to measure the number of steps for the letter to reach the business man • On average, required six steps • Replicated on global scale with same results! It’s a small world after all Photo by Dan Coulter
Three Degrees of Influence The influence of actions ripples through networks 3 degrees (to and from your friends’ friends’ friends) You are affected by people you don’t even know! • Influence dissipates after 3 degrees because: • Intrinsic decay: corruption of information • (like the game telephone) • -Network Instability: social ties become unstable at 4+ degrees of separation • -Evolutionary Purpose: we evolved in small groups where everyone was connected by 3 degrees or less Photo by Taro Taylor
Three Degrees of Influence If we are connected to everyone by 6 degrees and influence those up to 3 degrees, then we can reach halfway to the whole world! 1 2 3 Photo by Wonderworks, Flikr