Weak Ties is a descriptor often employed to characterize the sprawling network of connections established in social media. The term is frequently used pejoratively, for instance when comparing the term "friend" as it applies to a virtual relationship on Facebook to its application in a physical social setting.
In a 1981 paper, The strength of weak ties:a network theory revisited, (Mark Granovetter, State University of New York, Stony Brook), a different assessment of weak ties emerges, in which acquaintances (weak ties) connect disparate social groups (strong ties) creating opportunities otherwise denied to both groups.
The macroscopic side of this communications argument is that
social systems lacking in weak ties will be fragmented and incoherent.
New ideas will spread slowly, scientific endeavors will be handicapped,
and subgroups separated by race, ethnicity, geography, or other
characteristics will have difficulty reaching a modus vivendi. (Granovetter)
The purpose of the Weak Ties blog is to situate trade unions, the epitome of the "strong ties" organization, built around the concept of solidarity, in a world transforming at dizzying speed through the deployment of powerful, "weak ties" networking technologies.
In the recently published book Macrowikinomics, Don Tapscott writes:
The institutions that established the historic social bargains that underpinned post-world war II prosperity (i.e. national governments, business associations, and organized labour) are no longer the right ones to help rebuild the global economy or fashion a new form of sustainable governance.
Weak Ties will examine the ways in which organized labour might evolve in order to remain relevant and engaged in a weak ties world.
I think the labour movement needs a revitalization and not sure that social media has all the answers. To sustain long-term campaigns for social justice that are effective some of the traditional metods such as community development are critical. I look forward to seeing what evolves on the site.
ReplyDeleteOur focus is on the fact that there are "strong ties" communities and "weak ties" communities and while the labour movement is sometimes well positioned in the former, new structures are emerging fast characterized by the latter. It's not a question of employing social media tools as much as recognizing the problems associated with representing workers in a world organized through fluid networks rather than enduring structures.
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