Social Networks and Labor Markets: How Strong Ties Relate to Job Finding on Facebook’s Social Network

Abstract

Van Alstyne, and numerous seminar participants for their helpful comments during the writing of this paper. We would also like to thank the anonymous referees and the editor for their thoughtful and helpful comments. A special thanks to the people at Facebook, especially Cameron Marlow and Dean Eckles.

Linkedin(to) Job Opportunities: Experimental Evidence from Job Readiness Training

“…This complements recent work showing that Facebook access can increase employment and earnings, potentially by facilitating referrals (Armona, 2019). Gee et al (2017) also document patterns of job-switching consistent with referrals from Facebook friends. Related work shows that algorithmic hiring recommendations can lower turnover, while algorithmic job search recommendations can generate more interviews (Hoffman et al, 2018;Horton, 2017;Belot et al, 2019).…”

Does Whom You Know Matter? Unraveling the Influence of Peers' Network Attributes on Academic Performance

“…Social environment not only affects labor market outcomes but is also an important determinant of human capital accumulation and productivity. The importance of social networks in mitigating information imperfections inherent in labor markets is well documented (see, e.g., Granovetter , Horvath , Gee, Jones, and Burke ). Complementing this, prior research finds that peers have significant influence on productivity in academic and workplace settings through mechanisms such as learning, specialization, and competition.…”

Networking the Job Hunt

“…More recent research has shown that the reason weak ties are typically more likely to help you find a job is that they are by far the most numerous type of tie in your network. 3,4 Considered at the individual level, stronger ties are more valuable than weak ties, but collectively, your weak ties are more likely to help you find new employment because they are much more numerous. Thus, regular, albeit infrequent, network maintenance is important, as is networking sustainably and trying to help others first.…”