Upon reading “Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg,” I got
to thinking about the person in my network who connects me to all of the people
I know. Doing the same experiment as the author, identifying my 40 closest
friends, and tracing them back to a source, here is what I find. All 40 friends
were introduced to me by one of five people. The person with the lowest
introduction rate was AP with only one. The second was TQ with four, then JP
with six. The two highest rated introducers were SD with 16 (almost half), and
myself with 13. The reason why I was my own second-largest introducer was
because large groups of people are attributed in my network to various clubs
and extracurricular activities that I engage in on campus. In fact, the six
individuals that are attributed to JP come from a single club which this person
convinced me to join freshman year. Each of the people listed as introducers in
my top 40 network are individuals who themselves can be attributed to myself as
well.
TQ: 4 SD: 16 JP: 6 Me:
13 AP: 1
When the author discusses the social power of
knowing a varied group of people, I have seen that in action in my own life.
Just last night, a weak tie – a friend from a trip abroad this summer whom I
have not spoken to since – Facebook messaged me asking about possible panelists
for an event she is hosting. I immediately could think of several, and began a
thread with 12 people requesting their participation. The work that can be done
by this social capital seems enormous, and it has pushed me to think about the
things that I am doing in a different light. In attempting to move forward with
any given project, I now must stop and ask myself who I know that can help me achieve
those goals, and thinking about who I know and who they are linked to is much
more useful when I have this clear vision of the network. I can now target
those links that will be most effective at bridging me to my desired end
individual.
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