For me, the definitive paper on “network weaving” is this one:
Building Smarter Communities with Network Weaving
– by Valdis Krebs and June Holley.
Network weaving creates “smarter networks” (defined below). It works for all types of networks, including networks of organizations or independent individuals, and including all sectors: Business, government, and civil society.
Valdis’ and June’s paper walks through the basic steps of network weaving, which consist of a) mapping and assessing the network and b) building strategic connections to make it more effective. Their paper is 17 pages, and includes great illustrative network maps.. If you haven’t read it, it’s really the place to start.
In this post, I’ll point out how networks (and organizations) can use LinkedIn to make network weaving easier and more effective. But first, here is a bit more background on how and why network weaving works.
What Makes Networks Smart
100 Trillion Connections 