Everybody on the planet it seems really is separated by only six other people.
Another study, recently published, has proven yet again the six degrees of separation theory is indeed correct. In 2007 Jure Leskovec and Eric Horvitz examined a data set of instant messages composed of 30 billion conversations among 240 million people. They found the average path length among Microsoft Messenger users to be 6.6 (some now call the theory, “the seven degrees of separation” because of this.)
The six (or seven) degrees theory contends that because we are all linked by chains of acquaintances we are just six introductions away from another person on the planet.
The concept has been around for awhile and came about from a researcher’s desire to learn more about the probability that two randomly selected people would know each other.
The ‘small world experiments’, conducted by Stanley Milgram, examined the average path length for social networks of people in the United States. The research was groundbreaking in that it suggested that human society is a small world type network characterised by short path lengths.
One study in 1968 study involved 296 people who were asked to send a letter through their acquaintances to a stockbroker in Boston. Of the 64 letters that did eventually reach the target contact the average path length was about six. Hence, the researchers concluded that people in the United States are separated by about six people on average.
In 2001, Duncan Watts, a professor at Columbia University, attempted to recreate Milgram’s experiment on the internet, using an e-mail message as the “package” that needed to be delivered, with 48,000 senders trying to send an email via acquaintances to one of 18 target people in 13 countries. Watts found that the average (though not maximum) number of intermediaries was around six.
The term ‘six degrees of separation’ was popularised by the John Guare play, which was adapted to film. One of the characters in the play sums up the concept:
“I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. I find it extremely comforting that we’re so close, and like Chinese water torture that we’re so close because you have to find the right six people to make the right connection. I am bound to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. ”
So – it really is a small world and it’s about who you know and who they know…
2 comments
It is amazing how many people know other people. Just last week, I met with an accountant, whom I had met at another networking group, and as we got talking, I asked her if she knew of our accountant in our BNI Synergy group. She did know her, because she used her for her Tax expertise. That afternoon, I met with the accountant in our group and we were talking and it turned out that she lives just across the road from a very good real estate customer of mine. I showed her the lovely handcrafted cards that his wife makes and our accountant said that she would like to get hold of these cards as she sends them to her new clients. It is a fantastic feeling to be able to help two people out by referring them to each other for business services.
Thanks Diane – a brilliant example of our degrees of separation – or togetherness! And of bringing people together!
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