Last fall, Microsoft Research reported on emerging trends in workplace communications — people were engaging in more focused communication with direct team members, but the amount of casual chit-chat ...

The key to landing your dream job could be connecting with and then sending a single message to a casual acquaintance on social media. That’s the conclusion of a five-year study of over 20 million ...

The old saying goes, "It's not what you know, but who." The idea is that personal connections are more responsible for professional success than merit or ability. It's certainly observable in cases of ...

According to research, ‘weak ties’ make a much bigger difference than ‘strong’ ties. Casual connections are, well, casual. Once in a while they might help you out. Once in a while they might look out ...

A former surgeon general of the U.S. once wrote, “Loneliness and weak social connections are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day.” While that ...

Many of us are feeling a pull to find our bigger “Why.” I believe this year is all about reconnecting—to other people, to ourselves and to our place in the world. If you’re like me, you could do ...

Our social circles consist of strong and weak ties. Our strong ties are the people in our lives with whom we have the closest relationships. If we are the “main character” or “leading actor” in our ...

Weak ties are connections with people you know but aren’t close to, like acquaintances or casual contacts. Even weak connections can have a major impact on our lives, from improving mental health to ...

(Note: This was published first as a feature on Shareable.) Recently, I asked an American woman whether she’d moved to Paris in 1952 because she’d fallen in love with a Frenchman. Without missing a ...

Imagine this: You’re scrolling through LinkedIn or Twitter, and a post from a distant acquaintance—maybe an old classmate, a former colleague, or a friend of a friend—catches your eye. They share a ...

Weak ties have a bigger impact on us than you might think. Most of us have at least a couple of people with whom we have strong bonds, from romantic partners and close friends to our parents and ...