The more friends, the more flu

Did you have the flu this year? According to research by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler as reported by Christian Hesse in blog.zeit de, it is not always good to have a lot of friends. ☺ The probability of getting sick (like having the flu) is higher for those who have more friends.

If the possibility of your catching such a disease(!) is high, then it means that you have a wide social network. You can use this network of contacts in a more positive way than in the spread of disease – it’s the basic principle behind social media as a business tool.

Moreover, I can say that companies get the best results from social media channels if all of their employees interact with it in a pre-planned manner and spread the news. It is odd that many companies don’t perceive this and approach social media in the same way they approach conventional media. For example, they put an ad on twitter as if they were placing it in the newspapers.

I don’t think that you get a good Return On Investment (ROI) if you apply old practices in new communication media.

To access the article: Je mehr Freunde, desto Grippe

Song of the week: Avicii – Hey Brother (2013)