Posts tagged as:

social networks

What makes a weak tie?

by Sam Ladner on December 29, 2010 · 2 comments

in Blog, Popular, anthropology, culture, facebook, home, management, organizations, personas, social media, social networks

Social media today can take some wisdom from past research into social networks. Mark Granovetter’s famous sociological study of how people hear about job opportunities found that “weak ties” to friends and acquaintances are actually more beneficial than “strong ties” to family and close friends. Social media marketers need to consider who has weak ties [...]

2 comments

Tagged as: social capital, social media, social networks

Categories: Blog · Popular · anthropology · culture · facebook · home · management · organizations · personas · social media · social networks

Why Malcolm Gladwell Is Wrong About Social Media

by Sam Ladner on September 28, 2010 · 7 comments

in Blog, anthropology, culture, facebook, home, organizations, qualitative research, sample size, social capital, social media, sociology

Gladwell sparked quite the social media flare when he claimed recently that social media pundits greatly overestimate social media’s ability to effect social change. He compared the famous civil-rights era lunch-counter sit-ins to the revolutionary activity in contemporary Iran and found good, old-fashioned face-to-face relationships were a more effective mobilization tool than the new-fangled Twitter [...]

7 comments

Tagged as: facebook, linkedin, malcolm gladwell, social media, social networks, sociology, twitter

Categories: Blog · anthropology · culture · facebook · home · organizations · qualitative research · sample size · social capital · social media · sociology

Understanding Social Media: Social Theory 101

by Sam Ladner on April 27, 2010 · 4 comments

in Blog, bourdieu, design, facebook, goffman, home, interaction design, market research, social capital, social media, social networks, sociology, technology design, user experience

I was recently invited to speak at Ottawa’s Social Media Breakfast. The organizers, Simon Chen, Rob Lane and Ryan Anderson, asked me specifically to bring a sociologist’s understanding to social media. Below is my presentation. For the full version, with the notes, visit the full slideshare version.
My essential argument for the presentation was that we [...]

4 comments

Tagged as: bourdieu, facebook, goffman, linkedin, social capital, social media, social networks

Categories: Blog · bourdieu · design · facebook · goffman · home · interaction design · market research · social capital · social media · social networks · sociology · technology design · user experience

Detecting Social Media Bullshit: A Sociologist’s View

by Sam Ladner on September 29, 2009 · 20 comments

in Popular, Research Methods, bourdieu, class, culture, home, luxury goods, methods, social capital, social media, social networks

Social media “gurus” abound these days. Which ones are worth listening to and which ones are bullshitters?
Philosopher Harry Frankfurt exposed bullshitters in his famous essay “On Bullshit.” The liar knows what the truth is and cares very much about concealing it. The bullshitter, on the other hand, doesn’t care what the truth is and has [...]

20 comments

Tagged as: innovation, linkedin, organizations, social capital, social media, social networks, sociology

Categories: Popular · Research Methods · bourdieu · class · culture · home · luxury goods · methods · social capital · social media · social networks

How can an organization design social capital?

by Sam Ladner on August 19, 2009 · 0 comments

in bourdieu, ethnography, qualitative research, social capital, social networks, sociology

New research finds that there are seven key factors that promote social capital. In his book, Unanticipated Gains, Mario Luis Small did an ethnography of New York daycare centres. What he finds may surprise you: daycare centres are great “brokers” for social capital. I describe his findings on the Social Capital Value Add blog:
Small argues [...]

0 comments

Tagged as: book review, ethnography, innovation, linkedin, organizations, social capital, social network analysis, social networks

Categories: bourdieu · ethnography · qualitative research · social capital · social networks · sociology

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