63. The "Strong Tie" Group Size Limit is 150 People

Who is in Your Network?

• With the various forms of social media and in person networking, how many people are actually in our network?
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• Caption: http://www.wittythemes.com/social-media-icons/

Dunbar's Number

• Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist, studied animals to see if their brain size affected how many stable relationships they could form.
• He came up with a formula that calculates the limit of relationships for different groups.
• So what's the number for humans? 150
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• Caption: http://edelalon.com/blog/2016/03/dunbars-number/

What Counts as a Connection?

• You may have 1,000 friends on Facebook and 500 followers on Instagram. 150 may seem too low.
• The people included in the 150 are strong, stable connection - most likely everyone knows each other.
• Some say the strong ties are important, it is the weak ties where no one necessarily knows the other person, that are important.
• Social Media helps us strengthen these weak ties.