Facebook shared research this week about distant contacts being the reason tons of content gets shared on the social network. Distant contacts is really just another name for weak (interpersonal) ties and how they can be powerful connections for sharing:

In mathematical sociology, interpersonal ties are defined as information-carrying connections between people. Interpersonal ties, generally, come in three varieties: strong, weak, or absent. Weak social ties, it is argued, are responsible for the majority of the embeddedness and structure of social networks in society as well as the transmission of information through these networks.

And even more powerful for gaining new business:

The modern approach to business networking is based on the principle of weak ties: having a wide range of acquaintances can be far more helpful than having just a few good friends. Weak ties are also useful for activists who need to mobilize large protest or action groups.

With that said. Quality still matters when it comes to weak ties. You don’t want to have too many people within your network that you can’t remember. With 800+ million people on Facebook and it being one of the largest countries in the world by population. It’s important to remember its more like the real world then we care to admit when we try to market on it.