The strengths of a tie and it's relevance to networking
The Strength of a tie defines the proximity of a relationship
There are three categories of ties you already have within your network - strong, dormant and weak ties. Strong ties are the people you spend most of your time with, your friends, your family, etc. Dormant ties are people you used to know but have lost the contact to, i.e. old school friends, friends from your semester abroad or from a student organization you have been a member of before. Weak ties are people you do not know directly yet, but who are connected to your strong or dormant ties and who could introduce you.
Weak ties offer an excellent source to expand your network
The benefit of weak ties is that they can serve as bridges to other circles. Just like you have a circle of strong ties which are more or less strongly interconnected your weak ties have the same. Once you are introduced to a weak tie and can present your issue or question, he or she might know someone from her circle to help you. Information that is passed over weak ties inherently travels further than over strong ties since in these strong circles at some point you end up telling someone who is already informed about the topic and the circle starts anew. In addition, weak ties are more likely to like each other, since they have already something in common (i.e. a common friend) and hence it is easier to build a connection which is essential in networking, as you'll see in the nine tips below.
Nine networking hacks
These nine networking hacks serve as a starting point for your actions. Please refer to my PPT for further information.