When it comes to professional relationships, more information is going to be transmitted generally speaking to people with more edges that branch out into the network.The more edges a person has linking them to other people, the smaller the average length of pathways between them and any other random person in the group. Information travels not only between nodes that know each other, but also down paths between nodes that don’t know each other directly. An example of this in a work setting would be if one person asks another person to consult their resources in order to recommend a particular type of vendor. This is an example of information traveling down a path that is longer than one edge.

Part of the value of people using personal connections for referrals is that to help identify “known quantities” so to speak. People are hesitant to recommend someone they feel will reflect poorly on them.  The YouTube video “Professional Networking with LinkedIn” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Hmgo90Bzg) describes a method and purpose for using online professional networking site LinkedIn to find job opportunities.