Unfortunately the choice is not as simple as expert vs. network. All experts are part of one or more sub-networks in larger networks... and these sub-networks may/do not always agree with each other.

I once did a network analysis around Lyme disease. You would think that is very focused area of medicine would have generally accepted shared knowledge. But... this tiny sub-field of medicine had about half a dozen tight sub-networks, each claiming to have the right solution to fighting this disease. Some clusters/sub-networks were in very active disagreement with some others. So you can’t just choose between a Lyme disease expert and the Lyme disease network... you have to make further choices. Most medical fields are like this.

We also see various flavors of diverse approaches (religions? ) in our tiny, but growing, field of network science.