Plaxo's Personal Card: Ties That Bind

Ties That Bind

Plaxo is often discussed in conjunction with the many "social networking" sites. As such, I thought I�d touch on one of the more frequently discussed topics in social networking�the value of strong ties between individuals vs. the value of weak ties.

But first�a story.

A few years back, a friend of mine came home from the hospital with his wife and their first baby. They were startled to be met at the door of their house by his mother-in-law who explained her surprise visit by exclaiming, "I couldn�t let my daughter spend the night at home all alone with a baby and a stranger."

A stranger? Apparently, there are strong ties and then there are strong ties. I guess by the standard of a mother�s tie to her child, even spousal ties are suspiciously weak.

In the social networking space, of course, far more of the focus is on the value of less ambiguously weak ties�the connection between two acquaintances, for example, or the connection between an individual and the friend of a friend (FOAF). There is a great deal of sociological research (e.g. Mark Granovetter�s groundbreaking paper) that shows that weak ties are incredibly important, especially in areas such as finding a job or meeting a prospective partner�in fact, Plaxo receives many job candidates thru our postings on a popular social networking site. Indeed, many have argued that since the people to whom you have strong ties travel in the same circles that you do and have access to the same things that you do, weak ties offer more value than strong ties, because they are better able to expand your opportunities.

Most social networking sites are focused precisely at increasing the number of weak ties that an individual has. As a member of one of these sites, I am linked to over 859,400 individuals � 23 are people I know; the other 859,377 are linked to me via 1 to 4 degrees of separation (the 4th degree being the largest group with 755, 200 links).

As someone who met his wife through weak ties (my roommate was dating her roommate and they met through a mutual friend), I�d never knock the power of weak ties. But, I wonder, "Will the technology that makes creating weak ties easy also serve to make them less valuable? Will people soon become skeptical of calls from people who claim to have been referred by a close colleague?"

Arguably, the technology of the past 10 years has made it easier for people to connect to information and businesses, but harder to stay connected to each other. Most of us have at least 8 contact points (home, work and mobile phones, mailing addresses, e-mail, IM screen name, VoIP handles, etc.) that are frequently changing and our friends and colleagues are in the same situation. I believe many have found that people they may once have considered strong ties, have slipped to weak ties over time. And not because they grew apart, but simply because it takes a concentrated effort to maintain a strong tie.

Plaxo is often discussed in conjunction with social networking sites. However I feel we are complementary to these services rather than competing. For better or for worse, Plaxo has focused its efforts on helping subscribers with their existing ties, with people to whom they are already directly connected. For example, I have "only" 325 Plaxo connections to other Plaxo members, but they are almost all people that I knew personally before joining Plaxo. If Plaxo does its job correctly, I won�t accidentally lose contact with these people simply as a result of a home or work move, a changed phone number, or a new e-mail address. In other words, Plaxo helps to strengthen ties that exist--be they weak or strong-- rather than helping to increase the network of weak ties.

There is value in both types of ties, and both types of services. At the end of the day, however, I suspect that the true strength of a relationship in the future will be determined, as it always has been, by the content of the relationship and the effort invested by both parties, rather than the mechanism that established the relationship in the first place.

Ben Golub
CEO
Plaxo, Inc.

Posted by Ben Golub at June 21, 2005 @ 04:58 PM | permalink

A few weeks back, I wrote the below blog entry, which ended up morphing in an article which ran today on CNET. Thought it would be interesting to still post the original version, both because I�m intrigued by the subject, and the blog version is more personal to me. Ties That Bind Plaxo is often discussed in conjunction with the many "social networking" sites. As such, I thought I�d touch on one of the more frequently discussed topics in social networking�the value of strong ties between individuals vs. the value of weak ties. But first�a story. A few years back, a friend of mine came home from the hospital with his wife and their first baby. They were startled to be met at the door of their house by his mother-in-law who explained her surprise visit by exclaiming, "I couldn�t let my daughter spend the night at home all alone with a baby and a stranger." A stranger? Apparently, there are strong ties and then there are strong ties. I guess by the standard of a mother�s tie to her child, even spousal ties are suspiciously weak. In the social networking space, of course, far more of the focus is on the value of less ambiguously weak ties�the connection between two acquaintances, for example, or the connection between an individual and the friend of a friend (FOAF). There is a great deal of sociological research (e.g. Mark Granovetter�s groundbreaking paper) that shows that weak ties are incredibly important, especially in areas such as finding a job or meeting a prospective partner�in fact, Plaxo receives many job candidates thru our postings on a popular social networking site. Indeed, many have argued that since the people to whom you have strong ties travel in the same circles that you do and have access to the same things that you do, weak ties offer more value than strong ties, because they are better able to expand your opportunities. Most social networking sites are focused precisely at increasing the number of weak ties that an individual has. As a member of one of these sites, I am linked to over 859,400 individuals � 23 are people I know; the other 859,377 are linked to me via 1 to 4 degrees of separation (the 4th degree being the largest group with 755, 200 links). As someone who met his wife through weak ties (my roommate was dating her roommate and they met through a mutual friend), I�d never knock the power of weak ties. But, I wonder, "Will the technology that makes creating weak ties easy also serve to make them less valuable? Will people soon become skeptical of calls from people who claim to have been referred by a close colleague?" Arguably, the technology of the past 10 years has made it easier for people to connect to information and businesses, but harder to stay connected to each other. Most of us have at least 8 contact points (home, work and mobile phones, mailing addresses, e-mail, IM screen name, VoIP handles, etc.) that are frequently changing and our friends and colleagues are in the same situation. I believe many have found that people they may once have considered strong ties, have slipped to weak ties over time. And not because they grew apart, but simply because it takes a concentrated effort to maintain a strong tie. Plaxo is often discussed in conjunction with social networking sites. However I feel we are complementary to these services rather than competing. For better or for worse, Plaxo has focused its efforts on helping subscribers with their existing ties, with people to whom they are already directly connected. For example, I have "only" 325 Plaxo connections to other Plaxo members, but they are almost all people that I knew personally before joining Plaxo. If Plaxo does its job correctly, I won�t accidentally lose contact with these people simply as a result of a home or work move, a changed phone number, or a new e-mail address. In other words, Plaxo helps to strengthen ties that exist--be they weak or strong-- rather than helping to increase the network of weak ties. There is value in both types of ties, and both types of services. At the end of the day, however, I suspect that the true strength of a relationship in the future will be determined, as it always has been, by the content of the relationship and the effort invested by both parties, rather than the mechanism that established the relationship in the first place. Ben Golub CEO Plaxo, Inc.