Yesterday, I traveled from my home in St. Louis to a client onsite in Vancouver, B.C. When I fly, I’m typically pretty busy. I’m either reading documents, preparing reports, or catching up on much-needed reading. It’s usually my quiet time. During yesterday’s flight, I struck up a conversation with a couple from Philadelphia. As a [...]

What can a website devoted to cats and misspelled text teach us about social networks? Surprisingly a whole lot. Today, let’s explore the world of LOLcats. Specifically, the world of icanhascheezburger. When we talk about social networks, we often think about groups that are bonded by strong ties and shared interests. However, in the internet [...]

I love to make smart connections across my network. There are so many people who should meet, but don’t even know about each other. Often, they live in different states, across the country, or even across the world. So, there’s a delight when they come together. In social capital theory, you can be a broker [...]

Sometimes, you can create instant social capital to ease your way through a situation. Yesterday, I stood in the TSA security line at San Jose. I fly a whole lot, so I’m personally familiar with the drill. This time, I stood back and people-watched how infrequent travelers dealt with the process of TSA screening. The [...]