Contrary to what the term implies, Weak Ties are in fact, the strongest cues that we can
rely on to reach an understanding of the dynamics of any particular network. This is
another useful concept pioneered by the Science of Networks. The special quality of weak
ties as the scientists have discovered is that such characteristics do not only have an
effect on the its owners but also have important external effects on the network as a
whole. Take another example. Common sense may tell you that it is your closest friends
that can really help you find a job because they care about you. Right ? Wrong. This is
because your closest friends are more likely than not to have a similar background as you
have. Whatever job they are holding are also the likely kind of job that you are looking for.
They are, in fact, competing with you instead of being able to help you. On the contrary, it
is your casual acquaintances that can provide the best prospects of finding you a job
through their connections with people they know outside your own circle. They are the
Weak Ties that can be your strongest allies. Similarly, family problems cannot be solved by
members in the same family because they may also be the contributing factors to the
problem. Thus, they are not objective enough to analyze the causes of the problem. It is
very often the outsiders ( the Weak Ties ), say friends of the family who can play an
effective part in solving family problems by providing objective and less emotional advice
and mediation. This world is full of apparently paradoxical phenomena. However, in this
particular instant, they can work to our advantage. I tend to feel that the existence of
paradoxes merely points to the fact that there are always two sides to a coin and most
paradoxes can be understood when viewed from the proper perspective. That is when you can see their hidden connections.
Applying the concept to human affairs, this idea teaches us the lesson that the nature of things are usually not what their appearances seem to indicate. Anything by itself may look insignificant and isolated but its strength can arise from its connection with other aspects of a given system. This is the very up-to-date concept of systems thinking as has been so powerfully applied to our indispensable life support system – the computer network. Apart from this practical lesson, there is also the more subtle philosophical implication that it is processes and not things that are crucial to life. Material objects have very little value unless they are utilised properly in the appropriate context of the processes of life.
Applying the concept to human affairs, this idea teaches us the lesson that the nature of things are usually not what their appearances seem to indicate. Anything by itself may look insignificant and isolated but its strength can arise from its connection with other aspects of a given system. This is the very up-to-date concept of systems thinking as has been so powerfully applied to our indispensable life support system – the computer network. Apart from this practical lesson, there is also the more subtle philosophical implication that it is processes and not things that are crucial to life. Material objects have very little value unless they are utilised properly in the appropriate context of the processes of life.
