But heterophilous communication has a special information potential, even though it may occur only rarely. Heterophilous network links often connect two cliques, thus spanning two sets of socially dissimilar individuals in a system. These heterophilous interpersonal links in a system, called “bridges,” are especially important in conveying information about innovations, as is implied in Granovetter’s (1973) theory of “the-strength-of-weak-ties.” So homophilous communication may be frequent and easy, but may not be as crucial as less frequent heterophilous communication in diffusing innovations. Homophily accelerates the diffusion process, but limits the spread of an innovation to those individuals connected in a close-knit network. Ultimately, the diffusion process can occur only through communication links that are at least somewhat heterophilous.