Nanonetworks: Who's in your Moai?
Have you ever played the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? People try to connect any random person they can think of to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less. It’s based on the six degrees of separation theory, which posits that all human beings are connected to each other by six or fewer social connections - the “friend of a friend of a friend” theory, you might call it.
Part of the fun of these games is that, as a general matter, American workplace culture encourages nurturing a large network of friends and connections. Somebody with a lot of connections is seen as an asset to the team.
But what if having a large network isn’t always such a good thing?
Researchers studying social connections in the 1990s found something interesting. It turns out that the average person can comfortably maintain a stable social network of about 150 people. By “stable,” researchers mean that the person will know each other person in that network and know how each other person in that network relates to all the other people. Beyond that number, stability starts to decrease.
How many of you have more than 150 Facebook friends? If you sheepishly raised your hand, you’re not alone. Turns out the average number of Facebook friends is 338 friends per adult user. That’s more than twice the number we’re able to sustain meaningful connections with.
That’s why, here at Myrth, we’ve decided to try something different.
Instead of encouraging you to connect with everybody under the sun, no matter how well you know them, we want you to connect with your closest and most trusted supporters. These are the people who will hold you accountable, let you hold them accountable, and grow with you.
Science backs up this approach. It turns out that, for making positive changes to your physical and mental well-being, nothing beats the power of a small group. Small groups are better at encouraging change and making those changes stick.
Think about when you’re trying to do something you don’t want to do but know you have to. Have you ever enlisted the help of a friend? You pick a friend you’re close to, someone who can call you out when you’re not living up to what you’ve promised, someone who won’t walk away from you when you keep screwing up.
Those are the people who belong in your nano-network, or what we like to call your “Myrth circle” or Moai.
The people who can hold you accountable are the people we want to help you build stronger ties with. They’re the people who will help you succeed and, in turn, you’ll help them. These small networks of supportive, tight-knit people will help you make greater change than if you try to do it alone or with a large but loose support network of people you don’t really know.
We’ve built the MyMoai app in a way that fosters those types of connections so we can help you achieve your goals. Whether they’re small goals or big ones, you’re more likely to achieve them when you’ve got your small circle working together.
Who inspired you and encourages you to be better on a regular basis? Who’s in your Myrth circle? Leave us a comment below and let us know!