Social Network Activism The value proposition of technology-driven social network analysis (SNA) is just beginning to be explored. Until SNA is deeply embedded in software systems, the greatest value is when analysis results in individual and collective action.
Conversely, SNA can be used to understand the value of individual and collective actions. These actions are most valuable when they plug network holes:
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From John Udell's Seeing and Tuning Social Networks
The general principle at work here, [Valdis] Krebs says, was articulated in Ron Burt's Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. It states that networks with "holes" -- that is, unbrokered connections -- present the most opportunity. A successful actor is one with ties to many points in the network who can uniquely fill one or more of those holes. To that end, Krebs -- who is writing a book on his experiences with social networks and business organizations -- plans to mine Amazon, map out the communities of interest relevant to his themes, and tune his presentation to optimally broker among them.
For Krebs, Metcalfe's Law (network value is N2, for N users) and Reed's Law (network value is 2N, for N groups) are great in theory, but of limited practical benefit:
The six-degrees small world is a fallacy. The small world is two or three steps. I, for example, am supposedly six steps from Madonna. But if I want a backstage pass, it's not going to happen. On the other hand, if I know you, and you know Madonna's manager, there's a chance it will. The practical limit is about three hops. After that, information, for the most part, doesn't travel. We can form 2N groups, but I can belong to only so many.
Krebs calls this effect the horizon of observability. The most effective organizations, he says, are the ones with the best reach -- that is, the richest interconnections within that horizon. He cites a project for IBM that studied fifteen client companies following major changes (mergers, downsizing, etc.), and scored them on how well they handled the change. The winners had two things in common: high reach, and emergent leaders (sometimes formal, sometimes not) who were plugging structural holes. |
Structural holes are created by market failures -- in inter-enterprise commercial markets or intra-enterprise knowledge marketplaces [on knowledge marketplaces, see T. Davenport and L. Prusak, Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know].
Perhaps the greatest market failure of our time is that of tech employment. Not just that talented and qualified people cannot find jobs, but so many people are searching and submitting resumes it creates information overload for corporate recruiters. The role for an information broker in this space has never been so high, however, the buy side of the market (employers) is less willing to pay recruiting fees. The sell side of the market (employees) are not in a position to subsidize information brokerage to plug this hole. Or is it? Enter social network activism.
Take for example the Software Product Marketing eGroup, "The Ultimate Resource for those Seeking Software and Networking Marketing Professionals." Founded by Cynthia Typaldos, who provides the emergent leadership. Over 1800 marketing job seekers have banded together in a volunteer organization to create a highly targeted channel for recruiters -- for free. They created an information broker function using Yahoo Groups and developing a website. And by self-subsidizing the cost for its development, have done so in spite of the market failure. Now when times get tough, you go with what you know. Product managers within the group developed a shared database. All that marketing talent has gone further to develop its own marketing, PR and business development initiatives. The resulting service is a zero-cost highly targeted channel for recruiters and a channel to specialized employeers for job seekers.
For full disclosure, I am a SPM volunteer. But the point is that this collective action occured due to market failure, activists plugged the structural hole and leveraged convenient social networking technologies.
This social network activism is also what is happening with the formation of a Ryze Tribe for Bloggers. A structural hole existed between two networks, easily patched with a little activism and convenient technology. The result, as one Ryzer put it, "suddenly this is beginning to feel like a community."
So look around you. The greatest lesson anyone can gain is to be aware of the networks around us, structural holes exist and understand that a little activism creates tremendous value.
9:50:31 AM 
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