“We form networks because the benefits of a connected life outweigh the costs.”
I attended the TED conference last week and had the pleasure of seeing Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University speak. (I’ll link to the video as soon as they post it; meanwhile, you can read about it on wired.com). Christakis explores the science behind social networks – how our personal networks influence our behavior, how people tend to flock together and how unexpected properties arise out of the social connections we form.
Interesting stuff, especially when you consider that we’re forming more and more of our personal connections online in the social web. We are able to find large numbers of like-minded people more easily and spontaneously form communities of interest. And by doing so, we are...
