‘Connected’: Social Networks, Connection, and Contagion

Interested in a deeper understanding of social networks? Social networks are not just the online kind, but have been driving human behavior since well before those great patrons of architecture, the Medici family, ruled Florence. In today's Boston Globe, Michael Fitzgerald reviews Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler. Fitzgerald writes:

The book centers on two concepts: connection and contagion. Connections bring us together in myriad dynamic, constantly changing networks of people. Contagion happens when things - germs, of course, but also ideas or money - flow across our connections. They look at how our extended networks and our interactions with other networks influence our decisions, our health, our careers, our politics, and most other facets of life.

At Chusid Associates, we often talk about using social networking (the online kind) to augment and expand your human network. This book may help you think about that human network in new ways and understand how closely we are all Connected.

Connected offers a new way of thinking about social networks and the world - The Boston Globe