L4: SOCIAL NETWORKS

==SOCIAL NETWORKS== - a social structure that exists between actors, individuals, or organizations. A social network indicates the way that people and organizations are connected through various social familiarities, ranging from casual acquaintances to close familial bonds.

==TIES==

Are the various types of connections between these nodes? Ties are assessed in terms of strength.
Loose connections, like mere acquaintances, are called weak ties. Strong ties, like family, bonds are called strong ties.

==SOCIAL NETWORK THEORY== - the study of how people, organizations, or groups interact with others inside their network. Understanding the theory is easier when you examine the individual pieces starting with the largest element, which is networks, and working down to the smallest element, which is the actor.

==EGO-CENTRIC NETWORKS== - Are connected with a single node or individual. For example, you the node, are connected to all your close friends.

==SOCIO-CENTRIIC NETWORKS== - closed networks by default. Two commonly-used examples of this type of network are children in a classroom or workers inside an organization.

==OPEN SYSTEM NETWORKS== - The boundary lines are not clearly defined. A few examples of this type of network are America’s elite class, connections between corporations, or the chain of influencers of a particular decision. Due to the lack of clearly-defined boundaries, this type of network is considered the most difficult to study.

==SOCIAL MEDIA== - the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing, and collaboration.