Behold the Power of Social Networks!

I never realized just how important social networks can be for organizations until I read The Hidden Power of Social Networks. But it makes sense that one small change in a social network within a company can virtually mess up the production or relationships with in other facets of the company. Performing a social network analysis for a company sounds like an intelligent decision because it basically can predict the consequences of getting rid of one employee or the benefits of discovering the expertise or connections of another employee. After reading the article I tried to create a social network analysis on my own life. Obviously it is not as immense as a social analysis for a company, but just seeing how your own networks of friends connect is interesting. For example, my roommates and I all have different groups of mutual friends and the other weekends we thought it would be a good idea to have a party so all of our different friends could mingle, and network basically! By the end of the night I had discovered that many of my friends had already met some of my roommate's from other occasions prior. By finding out these "hidden" connections between mutual friends, I got to hear someone else's perspective about my old friends and funny stories I wouldn't have heard had we never found out we were all connected. We all gained new information and insights about each other after discovering our different relationships. It is interesting to think the connections and information we posses can really effect other people and the relationships they have as well......it's kind of scary too!