Small World Networks

Small world networks. What's the definition of that? Um, 3 people. So think about a group thread that you have going on in your text messages, right? You, friends, family, whatever it is. That's a small world network. In the social media realm, people might be calling it micro-influencers, where let's say you have a following of 50 to 250, 600 people. It's basically a standard consumer's, user's following base. They're not necessarily influencers, but it's people you grew up with, people you went to school with, people in your community, your close friends and family, and those people often will pay closer attention to what you're doing. It's your small world network. The interesting thing, and what a lot of social companies and product management people in this space try to do, is figure out a way to get energy, information, ideas, messages to flow through different small world networks. So as one piece of information, one piece of media, one piece of content, one idea, one product, gets dropped into one small group text thread, how then does that get shared into other group text threads and then on and on and on? And I think that's a big deal, not only because we're talking about how messages spread on the internet and, you know, this word of mouth, which is so valuable and what everybody wants for their business, for their organization, for themselves, honestly. But the other thing where this comes in handy and is very important is connectomics, biologic intelligence, and your connectome. Every connection in your brain, your body, your nervous system, there's lots of little small world networks in and around that. So like most things in our universe, it is a fractal, right? So one human is filled with small world networks. And then as we go from one human to another, not only are they a small world network in and of themselves, their own connectome, their own thoughts, their own ideas, their own experience, but also their relationships. And so you could see almost how things start to ping pong within our own mind, subconscious, conscious, and then between minds, our friends, our family, our neighbors, even people that are just following along for the ride. And then how things ultimately tip and then start to take on a life of their own. And so ultimately, things that do that are very human stories. It's a familiar surprise is really the mechanic that you're looking for— something that's everyday but has a bit of a tweak to it. That's what stand-up comedians use to engage you, to make you laugh. They shift your perspective into a new way of thinking about things. And that's just like Seinfeld, right? So yeah, small world networks. There's a lot of fascinating ideas there. So as you think about designing systems, start with small world networks and then think about how bits of information, ideas, products, services, even financial services transfer. Flow of money, flow of thoughts, flow of emotions, flow of frequencies and vibrations move between One and another, and that's it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, or if you've seen certain things take off, hit, move, or do whatever a little bit better than others. That's it. Have a great day. Have a great weekend.