Wk 3- Online Communities -A Very Small World

When reading the Shirky chapters this week, one thought resonated, six degrees of separation.  This premise that we are somehow all interconnected and the more exposed to the world you are then grants you more exposure in social realms was really neat to read about.  The book spoke of recluses and how their circle would be relatively smaller of network.  This thought that girl next door vs. online vs. Facebook cousins vs. Meetups for kayaking, all in one fell swoop all had an underlying tie, I found fascinating.  On p. 215 Shirky mentions "that Small World networks have two characteristics that, when balanced properly, let messages move through the network effectively." This is what makes online classes so effective as you are one group for one singled out cause, and in the same vein makes a lot of what's on Facebook so ineffective, it almost seems as the number least involved in an activity lends that activity more credit.  For example a following of an art page of some of the top artists in the world and their opinions which may be a harsher critique of one's work may harbor less of a following than perhaps a free lance artist still in his undergrad program making judgement calls on works of art.  Not to say that the novice may not be right, however, his following may exhibit more tweets shall we say, as popularity plays a role in this sense in this type of fervor.  A college student's social network also may be more expansive than that a of an art museum genius, who does indeed share  a "small world" with like-minded individuals most likely.