Difference Between Strong and Weak Ties Discussion

Hello there, I have attached everything discussion post/ as well as 2 peer replies .

For this week’s discussion: choose one of the following questions — you are welcome to respond to both if you are so inclined, and then come back and post on at least 2 other people’s posts.

#1. How has social media significantly changed the number and strength of our weak ties?
Watch the  video – (click the title). Follow the assignment directions: pick a famous person – use your own social media, internet, phone, friends, etc. to try and reach that person (track the number of steps, you don’t have to actually contact them). Do not use their face book or other their social media accounts – it makes the task too easy. Instead use your own networks!

Once you’ve done that create a thread using the famous person’s name as the thread name:
Describe how you got there and how many steps (connections) it took.

Also answer the question – how has social media significantly changed the number and strength of our weak ties?

** OR **

#2. Read the following:  and , then answer the following two prompts —

• Explain the difference between strong and weak ties. What does theory “the strength of weak ties” suggest?

• Discuss an example where a “weak tie” has been useful to you.

Strong and weak ties are both relevant and important in your social networking interactions. They perform different functions in relationships but they can extend your network far beyond your normal reach. Using and maintaining your socially weak ties can bring far-reaching benefits outside of your normal relationships.

Think how you use LinkedIn for example. Are all of your relationships “strong ties?” Do you count all of your connections as good friends? Or are they colleagues who you occasionally interact with? Are they important to you at all? Should they be?

Are your Facebook relationships all strong ties, or do you stick to Dunbars number theory? You’ll probably find several sets of weak ties in your social networks once you start to look. Do you connect with them? Do you watch their activity feeds? Do they look at your feeds to keep in touch?

Mark Granovetter refers to your strong ties as your friends and your weak ties as your acquaintances in his paper “Notes on the strength of weak ties” Mark talks about the interpersonal relationships between different, disparate groups of people and how they hold different sections of society together. As humans, we can have both strong and weak tie relationships in our normal networks. We can multiplex these relationships. We are weak ties to some of our connections and strong ties to others. Just like a network multiplexer our weak ties can carry both types of signals around our network.

In social networking these ties are crucial. Think about strong and weak ties in the following way:

A strong tie is someone who you know well. You’ve probably got their number on your phone. You interact with them on social networking sites. There is good 2 way conversation, and even if you don’t know everything about them, you know them pretty well and information flows freely. We know the same information.

Think about a group of geeks talking about technology. They all follow the same news streams and all know what’s going on in the technology world.
A weak tie is a more tenuous relationship. Once a year, you may send them a Christmas message promising to be in touch more often. If you look up their number, they are surprised to hear from you. You have different interests and don’t interact much. You might have kept their business card in case it comes in handy one day.

Think about a couple of your friends who understand technology but you wouldn’t class them as geeks. Whilst they are on the edges of your circle of influence – they don’t follow the technology news as much as you do. They have interests in other areas and aren’t as up to date technology wise.
However, these weak ties are crucial in binding groups of strong ties together. They bring circles of networks into contact with each other, strengthening relationships and forming new bonds between existing relationship circles.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource