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Apr 8, 2008

"Hear me, four quarters of the world -- a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds." --Black Elk

Why Do Social Networks Exist?

"For me, social networks are like the eye. They are incredibly complex and beautiful, and looking at them begs the question of why they exist, and why they come to pass. Do we need a kind of just-so story to explain them? Do they just happen to be there, for no particular reason? Or do they serve some purpose -- some ontological and also pragmatic purpose?" Harvard professor Nicholas Christakis describes his research with James Fowler on social networks, and how he came to that research in this fascinating article that discusses the power of networks to "magnify whatever they are seeded with,” whether it is the flow of obesity through a network, or the flow of fashion, or even the flow of happiness and altruism. All of these flow through social networks and obey certain rules, which continue to be discovered.