In class lecture and slides for teaching undergraduates: social networks, social capital, strength of weak ties, bridging social capital, bonding social capital. Used in my social media class. An updated set of slides. I explain these slides in depth on a blog post titled "Teaching Social Network Concepts: Fun Class Activity" at: MattKushin.com

1. THEORIES
OF
NETWORKS

2. LIST
 On the left: 10 people you talked to last.
 In a column to the right:
 For each, what’s your relationship with them:
 How do you know them?
 Friend, family, acquaintance, someone you work with.
 In a 3rd column:
 Who introduced you to that person?
 Who introduced you to the person that introduced you to that
person?

3.  Draw each person’s name on a piece of paper. Spread
them out.
 Draw a line FROM 1 person to ANOTHER if that person
knows the other person.
 Turn that line into a directional arrow from YOU to person B
if YOU introduced person A to person B.
Person A:
My Mom
Person B:
My wife
Example: I introduced Mom to my wife
ME

5. SOCIAL
OBJECT

6. SOCIAL OBJECTS
 Social networks are built around social objects, not vice
versa.
 “The social object is the reason people are talking to each
other” – Hugh MacLeod
Image: marc wathieu

7. SOCIALIZATION
 Socialization is not random, it is purposeful
 Humans seek social connection
 1 way we find it via social objects
 What the object is may not matter
 It is a vehicle for connection

8. SOCIAL OBJECT
EXAMPLE
 Apple iPhone
Example Source: MacLead

9. CONNECTING VIA
SOCIAL OBJECTS ON
SOCIAL MEDIA

10. CULTURAL “SOCIAL
OBJECTS”: MEMES
 A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols,
or practices.
 Transmitted from 1 person to another
 Analogous to genes
 Self replicate
 Evolve & mutate
Source: Wikipedia

11. MEME EXAMPLES
 Feminist Ryan Gosling
 http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/feminist-ryan-gosling
 “Binders full of women”
 http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com/
 LOL cats
 http://images.google.com search: LOL cats

12. SOCIAL OBJECT
 The conversation happening around object is what’s
valuable
 How can we start conversations?
Image: marc wathieu

13. THOUGHT QUESTION
 Social objects are 1 thing that connects us to others,
building social networks.
 What are other things that organize our connections with
others and build networks?

14. RETURN TO YOUR
NETWORK
 Between each edge (the arrow), write any social object
you have in common with people directly connected to
you.
 Ex
My roommate
Best Friend, John
ME
Dude from
class

15. SOCIAL
CAPITAL

16. SOCIAL CAPITAL IS
 'the number of people who can be expected to
provide support and the resources those people
have at their disposal”
 Taps “goodwill” available to a person/group.
 Can be converted into economic gain
Image: MixTribe Photo

17. SOCIAL CAPITAL
 Is not simply who you know
 But who you have access to via who the people you know.
Image: MixTribe Photo

18. SOCIAL CAPITAL IS
 Reciprocal
 Your capital is directly tied to the capital of others
 You gain social capital by giving
Image: ~dip

19. SOCIAL CAPITAL
 Bonding Social Capital - strong ties with kin and close
friends that offers social support, builds collectivity, and is
shared among people with similar values and goals (Lin,
2005; Putnam, 2000).
 Bridging Social Capital - is goal-oriented and offers
networking opportunities and access to external
resources via extra-community ties (Gittell & Vidal, 1998;
Putnam, 2000).

20. STRONG &
WEAK TIES

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
 Which person is more important for spreading NEW
information to as many people as possible
 A) Telling 1 of your 5 best friends
 B) Telling an acquaintance in class

22. STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES
 Groundbreaking study by Granovetter showed:
 Similar people tend to form strong ties
 These ties tend to share similar information
 Cause a lot of overlap in info exchange
 Therefore
 Weak ties most important ties in social networks
 Responsible for transmission of info between people
Ties

23. GRANOVETTER
STATES:
 “Intuitively speaking, this means that whatever is to be
diffused (shared) can reach a larger number of people,
and traverse greater social distance when passed through
weak ties rather than strong.”
Ties

24. TIES THAT BIND
 Weak Ties
 Can Become
 Strong Ties
 But it is not necessary for them to for you to have
success!
 Weak ties are critical to info diffusion
 But more & new strong ties, means new weak ties
Image: Carolyn_Sewell

25. NETWORKS ON
BOARD
 Some students come up and draw their networks.
 Then, we’ll see if any connections exist between them.