Linked: The New Science of Networks

Albert-Laszlo Barabsi in his detailed book Linked: The New Science of Networks gives compelling evidence how everything is interconnected to everything else. In other words we are all joined together in ways that most would find unimaginable.

The phrase “small world, big universe” comes to mind as Barabasi through scientific and mathematical studies conducted over the past 80+ years painstakingly proves the connection of links. To simplify his document, one begins with nodes. Nodes are people or things that come together through links. A node is a single object and links are a collection of nodes. The links are based on various relationships within nature then form a cluster or in scientific terms a network.

In thinking of the Internet computers (nodes) are linked through phone lines (links) which form the network known as the Internet. Barabasi study was to conclude whether the networks that are formed (not just the Internet) random or is there some predictable way to determine how these networks gather. 

Erdos and Renyi in 1959 introduced "the random network theory" which was held in high esteem by the scientific community. The thinking of their time was with the complexity of networks it had to have a random genesis and continuation because there would be no way to figure them out through mathematical or scientific methods. (page 23)

However, enter the six degrees of separation by a writer named Karinthy published in his short story entitled "Chains" which states that "To demonstrate that people on Earth today are much closer than ever, a member of the group suggested a test. He offered a bet that we could name any person among earth's one and a half billion inhabitants and through at most five acquaintances, one of with he knew personally, he could link to the chosen one." (page 26)

Citing many other studies undertaken through the years each new study has the advantage of the emerging technological advances of the day. However, one thing that has been shown that weak ties in a social network (the people you know, their friends) have shown to be more advantageous than a strong tie (people you know directly) especially when it comes to seeking employment or getting a new message out. Weak ties are able to bring in new information where strong ties typically have knowledge of the same information available to the seeker.

Even with humans Barabasi brings up another argument that was pointed out by sociologist Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point. Even though most people on the planet know approximately the same number of people, there are people that are called connectors who know many more than the average and these connectors are important to consider when calculating the six degrees of separation. Connectors are the folks that are strong networkers and can get a message to more people in shorter amount of time then the average person.

The more connectors in your network the higher you will rise in the information chain. It's the 80/20 rule applied to networks, 20% of the connectors are responsible for 80% of the connections. These connections in networks are called hubs, because a hub is where information is generated from, like a connector is a person to generate (network) with others.

Barabasi makes strong points backed up by empirical scientific and mathematical evidence. The last half of the book details how these connections work in society.