Weak-tie contact within a network is another way of describing distant contacts. The further away one person is from another, the more useful the information becomes that is passed between them. This may seem counterintuitive but in theory it makes sense. Most people when asked who they would turn to if they were looking for a new job would reply with friends or family. however this is the wrong thing to do, by doing this you are less likely to tap into knowledge we could achieve from people of a distance. This is because people we know, know what we already know.
Living in 'homophilous' groups we access the same knowledge as the rest of the group, by removing yourself you develop a chance of accessing new knowledge from 'week-tie' acquaintances who share few things in common. Good networks should contain high numbers of weak-ties to generate this unique knowledge.
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