Happiness and Social Networks

Happiness in social networks
Human relationships have been found to be the most factor in human happiness.
A 2008 study from in the British Medical Journal reported that happiness in social networks may spread from person to person.

Nearly 5000 individuals were followed for 20 years as part of the Framingham Heart Study. Researchers found clusters of happiness and unhappiness spreading an average of 3 degrees of separation. This occurred through close relationships like friends, siblings, spouses, and next-door neighbors. Happiness spread more consistently through the network than unhappiness. The structure of the social network impacted on happiness. People who were very central to the network (with many friends and friends of friends) were more likely to be happy than those on the periphery.

So what does that mean for us?
We need to develop larger networks or at least move from the periphery of our current networks towards the centre.