The Strength of Weak Ties and Brokerage Theory rely on the argument that weak bridging ties deliver novel information to brokers. Yet, very little empirical evidence exists to validate this claim. Analyzing an evolving corporate email network, we investigate the dynamic mechanisms that enable the “vision advantage”. Three results emerge. First, we confirm the Diversity-Bandwidth Tradeoff at the...

Social dynamics explaining communication among individuals and social relationships represent a major field of investigation in the current scenario of online social network research, whose importance and impact in everyday life is growing at unprecedented rate. This work reports our quantitative assessment of so-called strength of weak ties theory, foreseen by Granovetter’s seminal studies, ap...

This paper presents a perspective on the impact and use of new media that focuses on the strength of the interpersonal tie connecting communicators. Research shows that more strongly tied pairs communicate more frequently, maintain more and different kinds of relations, and use more media to communicate. It is argued that where ties are strong, communicators adapt their use of media and expand ...

In this work, we challenge the assumption that weak ties play uniquely important social support roles on network sites, particularly regarding informational support. To overcome methodological limitations of earlier research, present a mixed-methods study. Forty-one participants were interviewed and asked to identify five weak, medium, strong each report perceived actually received (emotional, ...

“The Strength of Weak Ties” argument (Granovetter 1973) says that the most valuable information is best collected through bridging ties with other social circles than one’s own, and that those ties tend to be weak. Aral and Van Alstyne (2011) added that to access complex information, actors need strong ties (“high bandwidth”) instead. These insights I integrate and generalize by pointing at act...

Electronic databases, from phone to e-mails logs, currently provide detailed records of human communication patterns, offering novel avenues to map and explore the structure of social and communication networks. Here we examine the communication patterns of millions of mobile phone users, allowing us to simultaneously study the local and the global structure of a society-wide communication netw...

This paper presents a perspective on the impact and use of new media that focuses on the strength of the interpersonal tie connecting communicators. Research shows that more strongly tied pairs communicate more frequently, maintain more and different kinds of relations, and use more media to communicate. It is argued that where ties are strong, communicators adapt their use of media and expand ...

The advent of social media have allowed us to build massive networks of weak ties: acquaintances and nonintimate ties we use all the time to spread information and thoughts. Conversely, strong ties are the people we really trust, people whose social circles tightly overlap with our own and, often, they are also the people most like us. Unfortunately, the social media do not incorporate tie stre...

Online social networks have allowed us to build massive networks of weak ties: acquaintances and nonintimate ties we use all the time to spread information and thoughts. Conversely, strong ties are people we really trust, persons most like us and whose social circles tightly overlap with our own. Unfortunately, social media do not incorporate tie strength in the creation and management of relat...