The Weakness of Tie Strength

Abstract

Mark Granovetter revolutionized social science with the argument that “weak” ties provide more novel content than “strong” ties, but left the definition of tie strength relatively ambiguous. The result has been serious issues of conceptualization and operationalization in the subsequent literature. This paper addresses these issues by presenting a classification system for social relations that improves upon the concept of tie strength. We unpack Granovetter’s original argument, and subsequent scholarship, to identify three factors that govern the transmission behavior of network ties: capacity (the ability of a tie to transmit content), frequency (the average time between tie activations), and redundancy (the extent to which a tie reaches persons who are connected to each other). Empirical analyses and simulation models identify existing types of ties and reveal new, and currently understudied, relationship types, supporting the usefulness of our new Multidimensional Index of Network Ties (MINT) classification system.