The one thing I came away with was that networking is in… "Hah!" you say, and I wouldn't blame you. With the rise of social networks and its media attention, of course it's "IN." No, but what I mean is that about 70% of the thesis-topics I heard being presented yesterday, were in some form or fashion centred on networking. And I can't remember it being so dominating a topic before.

As was mine, incidentally, being in part about incubation and innovation systems, and how to improve the connection between tech-startups and investors, but there was one thing I didn't look at, which was: Weak ties, strong ties, and their implications. I won't explain it in great detail now, if interested, you should definitely read this pdf, I just uncovered, by Mark Granovetter, the originator of that theory and how to measure (!) it.

The idea is that we are surrounded by possible ties, some of them non-existant and potential, some of them strong, meaning that we meet frequently and that psychic distance is low, some of them weak, meaning that we see them rarely and that they are perhaps based on less emotional factors. If you're in a university environment, it's of course easy to imagine that you have a lot of strong ties. As everyone enters their careers, your ties to to each other become weaker and weaker. The same, to some extent is happening on this blog: some I have stronger ties with than others, simply because of the frequency of interaction. Of course, I'm hopefully a not-to-weak tie to all of you on this blog ;)

Regarding the power of weak ties, Granovetter also writes:

The macroscopic side of this communications argument is that social systems lacking in weak ties will be fragmented and incoherent. New ideas will spread slowly, scientific endeavors will be handicapped, and subgroups separated by race, ethnicity, geography, or other characteristics will have difficulty reaching a modus vivendi.

In other words, strong ties aren't everything either—they, rather, lock you into a clique and prevent ideas from spreading and changing the world!

The strength of ties & funding
Some things I learned yesterday, was that networking and its strength has certain implications in areas pertaining to funding and sales. One student did his thesis on the Greek semi-conductor industry and how it was funded. He found that (my phrasing):

strong ties are important for finding early-stage funding, like friends & family. But that weak ties are actually the predominant factor in finding funding from VCs and similar. His opinion is that those investors make their decisions not on emotions, but on business-reasons. A connection certainly helps, but is not the primary decision-maker.

The strength of ties and sales
If you ever worked in sales, you know that it's often not really a job focussed on relationship-building. Rather it is about maximising turnover, which can best be achieved by selling to as many people as possible in a short period of time.

Another student did his thesis on how the social environment of startups affects their sales strategies. He interviewed three independent ICT startups and three, which were located in incubators, and found that the first group was much more focussed on developing their sales-force, while the latter group depended much more on the ties it had with their respective incubator, often finding their first customers within, one even supplying the incubator with software. Kind of scary, I think, this co-dependency in the latter case.

Strong ties were an important factor in business development, which were more intense relationships between businesses, trying to get a larger project off the ground. Sales, in general however, relied mostly on NO ties, aka cold approaches to customers. So if you want a job in sales, that's kind of what to expect.

Thoughts and questions
While I dig theses a lot for their practical research alone—it sometimes reads like a section of a business-plan, and I have used it before to research an industry—we are obviously dealing with theories that are generalised across whole populations. But it seems like strong ties are actually not a very important factor in either getting funded or making a sale.

So some questions to you…

• How do you feel about networking after hearing this?
• Can you provide counter-argument, where a strong tie to a person actually improved your career? Ok, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, and husbands should definitely be left out of this :)
• Are there other areas, apart from funding and sales, where either strong or weak ties are better?
• How often do you use contacts-of-contacts on LinkedIN or otherwise for professional reasons?
• Can you provide some Best Practices in regards to "Weak-tie management"?

I look forward to your answers!
Vincent

P.S. I asked a friend to send me the names of these students. I'll try to fill them in later.

En un article de 1973 titulat 'the strength of the weak ties', Granovetter exposa la rellevància de les xarxes socials febles en les relacions socials. Aquest article és considerat un dels més influents en el món de la sociologia moderna. L'argument intentava demostrar com les xarxes de coneguts són importants per estudiar els comportaments econòmics, i com tots tenim una sèrie de xarxes socials relacionades amb la nostra feina que, tot i que no podem considerar d'amistat (no aniriem amb ells de cap de setmana), els tenim al cap a l'hora d'oferir-los una feina, fer-los un encàrrec professional o promoure intercanvis econòmics en base a la confiança que ens generen. 

En la recerca en ciències socials, la força d'aquests llaços febles es fonamental tant per demanar projectes europeus, en els quals calen equips de diferents països, com per tirar-los endavant. La creació de llaços de confiança entre equips és bàsica més enllà de les trobades formals que es produeixin. I aquí és on internet i les tecnologies que porta associades juguen un paper. En el projecte on estic, les trobades formals serveixen per intercanviar punts de vista i conèixer-nos els uns als altres. Un cop ens hem conegut, s'ha anat creant una xarxa basada en la missatgeria instantània (en aquest cas a través d'skype) entre alguns dels membres de l'equip. Per exemple, els equips de Birmingham, Milà i Barcelona estan força ben connectats en aquests moments, a través dels seus membres. Ja no cal prendre decisions unilaterals sobre el desenvolupament del projecte o esperar a la trobada per exposar els problemes. El contacte diari fa que ens plantegem dubtes i propostes, creant graus d'acord fora dels mecanismes formals del projecte. També per preparar postures de cara a les trobades formals on s'han de defensar visions de com ha de ser el projecte aquest tipus de xarxes és útil. És la força dels llaços febles. 

原文：

http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/SI110/readings/In_Out_and_Beyond/Granovetter.pdf

[Sociological Theory, Volume 1 (1983), 201-233.]

In this chapter I review empirical studies directly testing the
hypotheses of my 1973 paper "The Strength of Weak Ties"
(hereafter "SWT") and work that elaborates those hypotheses
theoretically or uses them to suggest new empirical
research not discussed in my original formulation. Along
the way, I will reconsider various aspects of the theoretical
argument, attempt to plug some holes, and broaden its
base.

THE STRENGTH OF WEAK TIES:
A NETWORK THEORY REVISITED
Mark Granovetter
STATE UNIVERSITY O F NEW YORK,
STONY BROOK

概要訳文：

グラノヴェターによれば、弱い紐帯は強いネットワーク同士をつなげる“ブリッジ”として働き、情報が広く伝播するうえで非常に重要な役割を果たす。強い紐帯によって構成されるネットワークは同質性や類似性が高く、強い紐帯ばかりを重視すると求心力ばかりが働き、そのネットワークは孤立化を招くことになる。情報伝播や相互理解を促進するためには、弱い紐帯が必要なのである。

また、弱い紐帯によって伝達される情報や知識は、受け手にとって価値が高いことが多い。強いネットワークの内部では接触こそ頻繁だが、たわいない話題などを交換しているだけのことが多いのに対して、弱い紐帯では関係性が弱いにもかかわらず連絡を取るほど、伝達内容は重要なのだということができるだろう。

レビュー：

http://www.jkokuryo.com/literature/bs/review/granovetter_1.html

図で表現する

Granovetter's Theory of the Strength of Weak Ties

http://www.analytictech.com/networks/weakties.htm