Musings on Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Saturday, August 16, 2003The Robustness of a Social Network
Yesterday, I had one of my regular teleconferences with Chris Gibbons, which give me the opportunity bat ideas around regarding entrepreneurship, social network theory, and complexity science. We got to talking about Duncan Watts' re-creation of the experiment that introduced us all to the notion of "six degrees of separation." Chris and I got to discussing the factors that may influence the degree of cooperation and responsiveness in a social network. After all, as Watts has noted, "Just because the world is small does not necessarily make it either efficient or robust."
Chris noted that the robustness of a social network (among entrepreneurial peers, for example) would seem to depend upon the frequency and nature of the communications across the network. Information that can be passively received and transferred doesn't put much load upon the network. On the other hand, calls for action on the part of the recipient have a higher "cost of transmission." Further, communications that have a short half-life (e.g., regarding tactical or logistical issues) might be expected to have a higher transmission cost than those with a longer half-life (e.g., regarding strategic issues). And, as Jan Twombly and Jeff Shuman at The Rhythm of Business aptly point out, information about, access to, and currencies* themselves have different relative costs and benefits.
What this suggests is that when we think about social networks (and attempt to design such networks), we should think about the kinds of communications being transmitted across the links that define the network. With our "Water Cooler" internet tool, for example, we are trying to accelerate and extend the transmission of communications among entrepreneurial peers regarding more strategic business questions (Why? Under what conditions is this true?). Hopefully, we're building an infrastructure that is appropriate for the "load" to be placed on the network.
*As used here, currency is an inclusive concept that incorporates any resource that can help you achieve your business objectives. It includes, but is not limited to, money.
The Elements of Productive Conversations
I continue to learn about the elements of productive conversations, which include challenge, context, connections, and content. Click here for more.