As life becomes more complex, it’s increasingly important for us to be precise with our words.

It’s easy to confuse a network with a system when looking from the outside. But the difference lies in what’s essential and what’s not.

A network has a single essential part with a collection of non-essential, interchangeable parts around it — IN NETWORK. Each non-essential part can be replaced or removed without collapsing the whole structure. Think of a social network — remove one person and the connections shift, but the network still functions. Networks are defined by the core holding it all together, not any single connection.

The value of a network is based on its functionality of its one essential part AND the size of the network. When dealing with a network, focusing on scale in terms of its size can be an effective modification. Chasing more awesome, in terms of better in a network is backwards. Better or more awesome is usually a byproduct of a well-functioning growing network.

Back to the social network, I don’t know anything about social networks, but getting better at the essential part will only add incremental value and likely only to some portion of the users. Adding value in a social network is about expanding the reach and that comes by adding more non-essential parts in the form of scale.

Where are you chasing more awesome in terms of functionality, when bigger would be better?