The Real Power of Social Media

I’m competing silently with a colleague to see who can acquire the largest community of contacts on social media sites. He peers at me disapprovingly from above his spectacles and remarks that ‘it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality’.

And he’s right, of course.

But not in the way you might think.

Because although we are all rather good at counting how many contacts we have – be it Twitter followers, Facebook friends, or LinkedIn connections - most of us aren’t very strategic when it comes to the best way to take advantage of the enormous potential of our own social networks.

Almost 30 years ago, a landmark study, entitled "The Strength of Weak Ties", showed conclusively that the best new business opportunities come from your more distant colleagues and friends, as opposed to your closest ones. This isn’t because close friends don’t give good recommendations; it’s because you and your close friends are more likely already to know about the same opportunities. Opportunities known to more distant colleagues--those who you don’t interact very often--are not as likely to be known to your own friends - and therefore to you.

So start thinking more about how your network operates, and how you can better operate within it; if you want exposure to more opportunities, make better connections with people and groups you don’t know much about.