Christakis explains social networks are not exactly a new revelation, but rather "have been with us since time immemorial."

"When human beings left the African Savannah, we were embedded in social networks and we still are today," he said. "In fact, we live our lives embedded in these social networks."

Our role in social networks has a major influence in our life. Christakis says it affects who our partners are, our health, how we feel, how much money we make and who we vote for. He explains this using an analogy, by comparing social networks to massive strings of Christmas tree lights.

"We have a knot of Christmas tree lights in the middle, and then these little strands that stretch out into the periphery," he explained. "And let's say every light is a person, and the wires in between the lights are the ties between the people."

Christakis stresses it is not only important how many "lights" a person is connected to, but also the location of where a person is in the network.

"It turns out that our location in these big networks, a location we often can't ourselves appreciate, has big implications for our lives," he said.

The six degrees of separation is a theory that is commonly-known. However, Christakis and Fowler expand that idea and talk about the three degrees of influence in "Connected."

"So while I might be connected to everyone else in the world, by six degrees of separation," he said. "I can influence and am influenced by people only within three degrees."

By this idea of three degrees of influence, Christakis explains if one gains weight, quits smoking or becomes happy, it can "ripple through the network" and affect your friends' friends' friends. The vice-versa can also occur, and come back to the original person.

Christakis also reiterates the difference between groups of people and a network.

"A network is something more. It's not just the people, but it's the specific pattern of ties between them," he said.

He cites these network ties as affecting productivity, innovation, level of crime and level of creativity in groups.

Social networking has relevance in the corporate world, as well. Christakis says business executives really need to "understand how people are connected, in order to understand how they're functioning and what they're doing." He says even finding a job can bring social networks into the picture, because often people find work by using their network connections.

With the recent influx of more and more social networks in cyberspace, Christakis says these "online interactions tap into a very basic fundamental desire all humans have to connect."

However simply, maintaining an online presence is not enough, because a person must not lose touch with reality.

"On the other hand, there's something different about the online interactions. They're not always quite as real as those in the offline world," he said.

"Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives" is a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and is featured on Oprah's Fall Reading Guide. It's available now in stores and online. For more information, visit www.ConnectedTheBook.com.

9NEWS Intern and CU Boulder student Vignesh Ramachandran contributed to this story.