Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

If you were to take the advice of some self-help books on networking, you would amass as many Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections as possible.

But research shows that bigger networks are not necessarily better.

In fact, large networks can hurt your performance by putting too many collaborative demands on you.

The people who network successfully tend to have more ties to people who are not very connected themselves.

People with connections to the less-connected are more likely to hear about ideas that haven’t gotten exposure elsewhere, and are able to piece together unique opportunities.

Don’t treat networking like a popularity contest. Find ways to connect with more than the usual suspects by reaching out to those who aren’t surrounded by others.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “The Most Valuable People in Your Network” by Rob Cross.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.