Identity. Recommandation. I'm 1,500 times Stronger - The Strength of Wea. I marvel at what social networks and the power of people I only know through digital connections have done for my professional and personal life. So many potential partners, clients and personal contacts, I would have never met without the tools of the social net. There may be many ills about the internet - loss of privacy, pornography and other vices, the rise of the gossip mill, the drop in sports participation - but connecting with like-minded others is one of it's big saving graces. Back in 1992 when I was a "wet behind the ears" brand assistant at P&G during the digital infancy era (remember LED terminals), my world really did consist of the immediate world around me.
Being a social guy, I likely at the time could keep about 150 "social friends" in the air before I hit the Dunbar number. That makes 8,600 possible connections, not bad. Now in 2009, the equation is much different. How did I get to that number? Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-Users of Social Net. The strenght of weak ties PDF.