Mediaboss Marketing

Washington, December 13 (ANI): The optimal social networking strategy depends on socioeconomic conditions. A new study has suggested.

Researchers Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia and Selin Kesebir of the London Business School explored the benefits of social networking strategies in two studies.

"In the age of Facebook, many Americans seem to opt for a broad, shallow networking strategy. Yet, cross-cultural research has shown that having many friends is not always viewed positively outside the United States," Oishi and Kesebir wrote.

One reason that Americans may prefer a large social network, the researchers surmise, is because Americans move around a lot. Thus, it may make sense to spread time and resources across many friends to minimize the loss of any one friend moving away.

Another important factor may be the economic conditions at a given time. When times are prosperous, your friends are less likely to need much help, whether it's covering a hospital bill or providing babysitting, and so a broad network of friends is easy to maintain.

But when times aren't as flush, having more friends might incur huge costs in terms of both time and resources.

With this in mind, Oishi and Kesebir predicted that a broad, shallow networking strategy would be optimal for people living in a residentially mobile, economically favorable context.

A narrow, deep networking strategy, on the other hand, would be optimal if people tend to stay in one place and economic conditions aren't as favorable.

In the first study, they created a model that simulated the benefits individuals receive from their social network under various socioeconomic conditions.

The researchers were able to simulate people who have different numbers of friends at different levels of friendship and they were also able to account for the investment required by each type of friendship.

Continued here:
Optimal circle of friends 'depends on socioeconomic conditions'