Link: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2007/tc2007085_238273.htm

In class, we discussed online social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook that are used to keep people connected though they may physically be thousands of miles apart. LinkedIn, a professional networking site, serves a similar pupose for job recruiters and those seeking employment. In the linked article above, blogger Jeff Pulver discusses his reasons for deleting his LinkedIn account to focus solely on professional and social networking through Facebook. One of his biggest grievances with LinkedIn was the fact that connections to people were often entirely virtual. That is, people would send him “Connect me” requests without ever having met face-to-face. And while requests like these have certainly occurred on Facebook (pre-Orientation anyone?), within a certain community, like Cornell for example, you’ve likely met most if not all of your “Friends.”

LinkedIn was probably created with Granovetter’s “strength of weak ties” theory in mind. But this article got me thinking about how Granovetter’s theory applies to virtual networks in which connections can be made without any personal contact. These ties appear to be the weakest of the weak and cause large networks to break apart when people, like Pulver, who had accumulated professional contacts over four years, decide to leave due to a lack of real connectedness. Not only that, but the blogger’s departure caused a ripple effect in this particular online community, effectively creating some structural holes in the network.