Technology today strengthens the social ties of larger and broader communities, and modeling provides a way not only to visualize and understand social networks but find out how to manipulate it.
Models expose the "underlying structures" of complex systems, and models come with both benefits and costs (Moretti 3). On one hand, models allow us to see systems holistically, whether the system is a company or a computer. Moretti calls this "turning time into space [...] Here, nothing ever disappears" (2). we can see how all the parts function together. On the other hand, we must reduce and abstract the original system, and doing so is like saving high-resolution images as jpgs: it causes us to lose some information.
We can use models to examine the structures of social networks. Moretti describes this interconnectedness when he explains why removing Claudius does not disrupt his network: "[Claudius] belongs to a region which is already very interconnected, and that remains just as solid with or without him" (5). So, models of social networks also reveal the scope and degree of connections between individuals in a community.
Technology expands these social networks and accelerates these connections, which Finn echoes in his essay when he mentions how "millions of cultural consumers are now empowered to participate in previously closed literary conversations" (2). We can use the knowledge generated by models of social networks to gather and disseminate information. Many of the companies that protested SOPA/PIPA maximized their impact by sharing pictures and articles on digital communities like Facebook, Wikipedia, and even XKCD.
Because technology increases and strengthens a community's connections, these communities can also withstand and resist disruption. Examples include communities providing resources for refugees of natural disasters like Katrina and, recently, encouraging public action against potentially harmful government policies. This effect mimics the concept of guanxi: in these technologically strengthened social networks, characters rally their resources to influence "a whole cluster of interactions in the same direction" (Moretti 8-9). And in the long run, this high degree of interconnectedness creates symmetry by allowing the community to stabilize itself during and after a disruption.