"In his classic 1974 study Getting a Job, Granovetter looked at several hundred professional and technical workers from the Boston suburb of Newton, interviewing them in some detail on their employment history. He found that 56 percent of those he talked to found their job through a personal connection... [C]uriously, Granovetter found that of those personal connections, the majority were 'weak ties.'"
The underlying theory is that people to whom we're tied strongly will dwell in the same circles as us. As a result, when branching out to new areas, it helps to have those casual acquaintances who have different connections from us. As a blogger, I'd also suggest that these types of friends keep the spice in life, opening unique doors (like hypnotherapy...) that would otherwise stay hidden behind the hedges.
That's what makes organizations like churches, Rotary Club, or sports teams so valuable... means to get exposure to people with one common interest, but a broad cross-section of other interests that complement our own.
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