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

Social Group Size Limit

Think about how many people you are friends with on all of your social media platforms. Then think about how many people you are friends with from organizations, like school, and your personal friends and family members. How many people are in your network overall?  Did you know there is a social group size limit?

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How Many Friends Can You Actually Have? (Embed)

Dunbar's Number

Robin Dunbar (1988) Formula for calculating the limit of stable relationships in social groups for different species of animals and for humans 150 people is the social group size limit for humans This is in reference to relationships where you know each person and how each person relates to every other person in the group

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Does this Number Seem Low?

150 is the group size for communities that are incentivized to stay together. In the digital world, many of the connections we have are not the strong, stable relationships that Dunbar is referencing. 150 is in reference to strong connections where everyone knows everyone and people are likely in close proximity.

About the "Weak Ties"

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Weak ties - relationships that don't require everyone to know everyone else in the group and are not based on physical proximity Social media allows us to quickly and easily expand these "weak" ties and are extremely relevant in our modern world.

Key Takeaways

Your "tribe" limit is approximately 150 people, and if you do not have this close community, you may feel isolated or stressed. Your relationships that exceed outside of this range, like social media friends, are likely weak relationships. If you are designing something that utilizes social connections, decide whether you are designing for the strong ties or the weak ties. For strong ties, there needs to be some sort of consideration for the physical proximity of people and how they interact. For weak ties, know that people won't communicate directly among all the people in a person's network.