Principles in Networks that affect BUZZ


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It is said that we are all connected by a chain of no more than six acquaintances. There are ten principles at work in social networks that affect buzz.

 

PRINCIPLE 1: the Networks are Invisible

Even small networks that consist of only 100 people there are 4950 possible links among them. Networks are too complex. In a network of 100 people there are half a million links! Moreover networks keep changing. People in our society constantly form new friendships, change jobs, move-all factors contributing to fluidity and invisibility of networks.

IMPLICATIONS:

The implication of this principle to customers is that customer privacy is protected because our social ties are not easily visible. This also means that the marketers are in the dark. The good news is that marketing activities can be invisible as well, a fact that can help companies gain market share under the radar screen of competitors. For example hundreds of thousands of customers signed up for hotmail before anyone in the technology industry paid attention to this start up. Grassroots’ activities and the buzz they generated are much harder to detect than mainstream advertising and publicity. It may take months before the grassroots buzz gets picked up by the media.

 

PRINCIPLE 2: People link others who are similar to them

It is human nature to make contact with people who are like themselves. Scientists love to talk to scientists. Rich people associate with other rich people. This tendency for people to like and associate with those who are similar is called “homophily” and it is one of the fundamental principles of invisible networks. This is the main factor that can limit the acceleration of buzz.

IMPLICATION:

The homophily principle works has two basic implications. The first is that people ho are similar to each other form clusters. The second is that more similar your employees are to your customers, the easier communication between them will be. Nintendo used this concept while hiring video game enthusiast as “game counselors” these counselors are typically few years older than the children they advised, were well placed to understand the kid’s feedback and raise excitement about new games. The homophily principle also affect the type of people who apply to work for a company. “You will find that in a running shoes company you will find a lot of people who like to run and hang out with runners” says Helen Rockey, a former executive at Nike and Brooks Sports.

  

PRINCIPLE 3: People who are similar to each other form Clusters

Sets of people who share similarities in some dimensions of their lives and as a result who frequently communicate with each other. Common goals can also tie people together. Clusters can informally adopt products together. We can study this phenomenon with help of the example of promotion of contraceptives in villages. Three methods are promoted –Oral contraceptives, condoms and vasectomy. It is observed that villages often tend to unofficially select a particular method. Some villages are ‘condom villages”, some are “vasectomy villages” and some are “pill villages”. After one network hub in the cluster chose the method, she spread it and consequently influenced the rest of her village.

IMPLICATIONS:

The good news for a company is that if a particular product becomes the standard in a cluster, it makes it very difficult for competitors to uproot the company from this position .Of course; it is bad news if the competitor’s product has been adopted. Another implication is that sometimes a product becomes so closely associated with a cluster that people in other clusters hesitate to adopt it.


 

PRINCIPLE 4: The net nurtures weak ties

It is easier to maintain weak ties on the internet than by phone or in person. This explosion in weak ties should however should not lead us to the conclusion that technology is on the verge of linking everyone on the planet. Our brain is capable of handling only so many links at any given time .the fact is that we can’t and we don’t want to maintain links with unlimited people.

IMPLICATIONS:

The increase in weak ties on the net can explain why information travels much faster today .the internet creates millions of shortcuts of weak ties across clusters. There are so many pieces of information that wouldn’t warrant a phone call to distant friends but you may send an e-mail message to several acquaintances.

 

PRINCIPLE 5: Networks go across markets

People belong to more than one market and they are connected to people who are part of other markets. Markets are often defined by categories. For example marketers target men ages 21 to 26.But it is also important to remember that these men usually have ties to women ages 21 to 26 as well as ties to men and women 21 to 65 at their workplace.

IMPLICATIONS:

It is difficult to determine how people in one market category are linked to people in other category. Messages directed to one group of people easily find their way to other people .As a result stories about bad service experienced at your low end segment can move to your high end customers.

 


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