Pareto Principle and Social Networking

Another side-effect of being ill is that one finds time to get philosophical. I thanked God for blessing me with a wonderful family - dog included, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and sundry well wishers. It wasn’t as if I was terribly ill; it was just that I was terribly silent and that worried them! Honestly, if i were in their place, I would have just enjoyed the silence. 

So, where did all this illness-bonhomie lead me? To the much discussed Dunbar’s number. This was postulated in the last decade of the previous century and re-emerged in the context of online-social-networking. Dunbar re-examined his theory in the context of Facebook in 2010. Basically, what Dunbar suggests is that an average person can have normal social interactions with no more than 150 people. Other social anthropologists studied similarly and have put the figure at anything around 230, or even at 290. For the purpose of my argument, I assume that this number lies in the range of 0 to 300, depending on how 'average' or 'extraordinary' a person is with social interactions, and I shall call this the 'Inner Circle'.

your connections and inner circle

These people in your inner circle are those you are in regular touch with are aware of any developments in your life that you may share with them. However, a quid pro quo in the relationship may not necessarily exist. That is to say that you may not be in their inner circle.






All this brought me to Pareto’s principle, a theory in economics applied in management as the 80-20 rule. Pareto studied this in the context of land holdings in Italy but what he theorised from his observation and study is accepted in many areas today.

fig 1

If you are a professional keen on improving your chances for a change in job/career/profession, this might just remind you that 80% of your chances of finding one will come from just 20% of those you’ve connected with. Sure, by increasing your number of connections, you are increasing your spectrum of that 20% and, therefore, your chances of finding that job.

fig 2

But, remember, the brain limits that number to about 300. So, the 20% of those who could crease your chances of finding a job could be out of your inner circle (fig 1), a few of them could be in your inner circle (fig2) or all of them could be in your inner circle (fig 3).

fig 3

Your chances of finding that job increase depending on how that 20% is located with respect to you. Obviously, if they are all within your inner circle, you have maximised your chances of exposing yourself to more opportunities, as in figure 3.

However, that's only one part of the story; the other part depends on your position relative to your friend's inner circle. Your chances actually maximise only if you are also among the 300 of those 20% who can build that 80% chance for you - that is, if you are among the inner circle of the 20%

your relative position to your friend's inner circle

that could make a difference to your chances.



They would then keep you informed of any opportunities that they may be aware of since they would know you well in terms of your qualifications and requirements.






And, well, if you aren't in the inner circle of even 10% out of the 20%, then your chances aren't as bright as they could be.Yeah, it’s kinda tricky!

Bottom-line: instead of fretting over those numbers, spending precious time on desperately increasing that number on your ‘friends list’ and ‘connections’, just work hard and build a strong resume and do what is within your control. Ofcourse, do network. But remember that that is only as significant as it is.