Online Networks don’t function like Real World Networks
August 5th, 2008
Or so says a recent article in Wired. A PhD student at MIT has been doing some comparisons on the ways groups interact socially.
What I found most interesting about the article is that when you have a problem and go online to solve it, you usually depend on an extensive network full of people you hardly know.
But when you have a problem offline in the workplace, typically you work with a tight-knit group that you work with and know intimately. And those tight-knit group are – not surprisingly – very efficient.
It just goes back to the fact that online will never replace offline. And that it’s our jobs to figure out how one supports the other. How one is an extension of the other. And how one can fill in the gaps left gaping by the other. And I think it’s a two-way street.
Other posts by Spike.
Zachary Pope says:
That is definitely true. The business that I work for, Marketing Success Institute, has been in business for 6 years, but up until the past couple of months we have been involved in only ‘offline’ networking.
Bryan Pope, the founder and my father, has compiled a very large database of people that he has networked with face to face. The change in doing networking online is drastic, but is very beneficial in today’s market.
August 5th, 2008 at 9:15 amPhilippe says:
What I learned from Albert Lazlo Barabasi (the author of the must read book “linked”) is that in networks like the web’s social network, there’s a law called the “preferential attachment”
I quote wikipedia: “the more connected a node is, the more likely it is to receive new links. Nodes with higher degree have stronger ability to grab links added to the network”
August 6th, 2008 at 1:14 amBill Gammell says:
Very interesting stuff here. A lot to digest, thanks for posting it.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:32 amLorri says:
Although they are different, I believe that both are very beneficial. There are problems that I have had that I don’t talk with people offline, but have with those of my friends online.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:14 pmI think that there are many people who otherwise wouldn’t share anything, but with the benefit of a sense of a little anonymity with those they interact with online, feel they can be more open about problems.
While I have many dear friends and neighbors all around me, I have turned to people I have met online and in less time have become friends with-simply because they are online, so we relate better.
I do think that people who only resort to online relationships/networking are likely to loose valuable social interaction, skills and experiences. We need to make sure our life is balanced. And the balancing act is only going to get worse as more websites and networks online emerge.
social networking - reality mining shows how people do it at work versus Facebook says:
[...] I cam across the headline Online Networks don’t function like Real World Networks that said: What I found most interesting about the article is that when you have a problem and go [...]
August 17th, 2008 at 2:22 am