Last week I decided to pull one of my favorite books, Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, back off the shelf. If you’ve never read it before (you should), the book describes the way in which ideas, trends, and social behaviors ‘tip’ and begin spreading like wildfire. News about Oprah officially joining the ranks of the Twitterati had the micro-blogging service at the forefront of my mind, and I wanted to re-read the book to help get a better grasp on how Twitter finally ‘tipped.’ Instead, I ended up with a much clearer idea of how social networks like Twitter and Facebook can fit in to our professional networking efforts.

In the book, Gladwell describes three types of people — Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen — that he believes to be critical in driving social epidemics. Using the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon as an analogy, Gladwell describes Connectors as “people whom all of us can reach in only a few steps because, for one reason or another, they manage to occupy many different worlds and subcultures and niches.” You know someone like this. It’s the person that seems to know everyone. Not only that, a Connector enjoys using his/her network to connect groups and individuals that would never otherwise interact. “We rely on them to give us access to opportunities and worlds to which we don’t belong,” says Gladwell. Some of you savvy networkers out there might see where I’m going with this.

When it comes to finding a job, many people start off their networking efforts by reaching out to their ’strong ties’ like close friends, coworkers, and family members. While there’s nothing wrong with that approach, it’s probably not the most effective way to spend your time. Think about it: most of these people occupy the same social circle, work at the same company, and/or spend their time doing many of the same things as you. There’s not much of a chance that any one of them is able to find out about an opportunity that you haven’t heard about already.

Contrast this with your acquaintances, or ‘weak ties.’ While you’d recognize this person in a crowded room, s/he is not someone you see on a regular basis. This person spends time in a completely different world from you, possibly one with very different opportunities. Having access to many weak ties opens up networking possibilities far beyond those associated with strong ties.

Remember the Connectors? Gladwell describes them as ‘masters of the weak tie.’ Having a true Connector in your corner is incredibly useful in finding a job, as sociologist Mark Granovetter discovered in his aptly-named study, Getting a Job. In his research, Granovetter discovered that 56 percent of people found their job through a personal connection — yet only 16.7 percent of those people described seeing their connection “often.” With over 83 percent describing seeing their connection either “occasionally” or “rarely,” Granovetter went on to coin the term “the strength of weak ties” as a way to illuminate this phenomenon.

I promised I’d bring this back to Facebook and Twitter, so here it is: the people that complain about someone having hundreds of ‘fake friends’ on Facebook, or think that Twitter is nothing more than a place to tell people what you’re eating for lunch, are completely missing the point. Facebook allows you to maintain acquaintance-level relationships with people you would have long since forgotten otherwise. Twitter gives you access to millions of people using the service that you don’t even know. Aside from being fun to use, these tools are great ways to expand and leverage your weak ties. Most people don’t have the natural ability of a Connector, but social networks can help the average person act like one. And if you’re searching for a job right now, you should be using all the tools at your disposal.

Do you see the value in using Facebook and Twitter help you leverage weak ties? Let me know in the comments, or on Twitter @scottytsuch.

Photo credit: notsogoodphotography on Flickr