Mapping Your Network Exercise
Mapping Your Network Exercise
Visualize, develop, and weave relationships with others to help support your program or communications goals.
Use sticky notes, markers and poster paper. Pick an area that you work in (family planning, women’s empowerment, maternal health, etc)
Brainstorm a list of “go to” people, organizations, and online resources (bloggers, etc)
Decide on different colors to distinguish between different types, write the names on the sticky notes
Think about specific ties and connections. Draw the connections.
Some reflection questions to generate insights once maps are created
- What people, resources, and organizations are in your ecosystem?
- What are the different roles?
- Are you connected or not connected?
- If connected, how are you connected?
- Think about the touch points in your network? How do you appreciate, thank, and celebrate important people in your network?
- Think about reciprocity: What have you given people in your network before they have asked?
Debrief: Gather everyone together as a full group standing. Walk as a group to each map and have each team debrief their map. Walk to the next map as a group. Once every team has reported, then ask everyone to sit down and reflect on these question:
How can you use your professional network to support your work on this project?
Network Mapping
Definitions
Social networks are collections of people and organizations who are connected to each other in different ways through common interests or affiliations. A network map visualize these connections.
If we understand the basic building blocks of social networks, and visually map them, we can leverage them for our work and nonprofits can leverage them for their campaigns. We bring in new people and resources and save time.
Networks are more than random gatherings of people and organizations online. Social networks have specific structures and patterns to them. In order to engage them well, NGOS need to understand the fundamental building blocks of social networks. Shifting focus from organizational to engaging with social networks that exist is the first step. The networks are filled with people who want to help with a cause. NGOs that build social capital and weave their networks can achieve more impactful results.
Social Network Mapping Basics
At its simplest, a social network is a structure that identifies relationships between people and organizations, called nodes. The connections, communications, reciprocity, similarities, and relationships between nodes are called ties. The nodes are important, but without the ties the network doesn’t exist.
A network’s core is the closely connected inner circle of people who do most of the work on any project or effort. Depending on the network, the core might be comprised of the organization’s staff, volunteers, and key supporters.
Hubs are groups of strongly connected nodes within a network, meaning the people or organizations that have close relationships. The nodes that make up a hub are also known as influencers, the people who are known and trusted by many people in the network. They enjoy sharing information and connecting people to one another and resources.
Clusters are groups of people who are connected to one another but who have fewer connections to the rest of the network. Clusters are often isolated from the rest of the network, and require intentional efforts if you wish to connect them.
The edge or periphery of a network is the location of people or organizations who are not well connected to the network. Traditional top-down, command-and-control organizations don’t pay much attention to the periphery because it doesn’t appear to have as much value as the influencers. But from a networked point of view, the edge is vital to growth because these people or organizations are likely to be part of other networks. By incorporating them into your network you can bring in new perspectives and energy.
Social Network Analysis: Visualize Your Network to Improve It
SNA is a technique for helping understand, map, and measure the networks of social relationships that connect people and organizations to one another. Network visualization, either through maps or SNA, can reveal current and potential network resources and provide important insights. The art and science of these techniques can be used by nonprofits that want to build or improve their networks.
The value of SNA is its ability to investigate questions that other research techniques cannot. SNA makes visible the otherwise invisible relationships, connections, and information that flows between nodes in a network. Social network maps provide a guided journey through the social landscape of your networks. Using them, you can visualize and explore the patterns that connect your organization’s fans, followers, and friends. You can even analyze the connections and ties between people who use your organization’s hashtags on Twitter.
Social network analysis and theory is a relatively recent set of concepts and techniques, largely developed by social scientists, academics, and mathematicians during the 20th century. A field of intense study at graduate schools in universities, it has changed the way we combat terrorism, study ecologies, fight disease, and evaluate organizations.
Social Network Analysis Provides Powerful Visualizations
Social network visualizations provoke discussion and action about the people and organizations in a network. Visualizations reveal how they might better connect and work together toward achieving specific outcomes.
Seeing a picture—or map or diagram—of your network can be a powerful way to ignite ideas and conversation about your strategy. For example, suppose you want to learn who are the people most interested in your message and how you should cultivate them. Seeing a map of Twitter users who have participated in a Twitter chat can help you quickly identify new people and introduce new people to your organization’s work.
Social network analysis is not limited to looking at networks of people or individuals, but can include networks of organizations as well. Networked nonprofits can use this approach to analyze aligned partner organizations and to study the dynamics within a specific sector or discipline. An example is how the National Wildlife Federation used network mapping to identify aligned partners for advocacy around a bill, as discussed later in this chapter.
Social Capital
Social capital makes relationships meaningful and resilient. Trust and reciprocity. Social media can help build social capital because:
Social networks make it easy to find people online
Serendipity is enhanced by social networking sites where people connect based on their interests or friends
Reciprocity is easy
Network Weaving
A term coined by Valdis Krebs and June Holley. Describes a set of skills that help strengthen and build social networks. Some activities include:
Introducing/connecting people to one another:
Facilitating conversations, Building relationships w/Network members
Sharing resources, links, information, contacts
You can also leverage the power of networks and social media for professional learning. You can connect with peers and even people you don’t know personally who have subject matter expertise.
Beth Kanter (