Microsoft have used their MSN network to study the Six Degrees of Separation theory and seem to think the average number is about six after all. Which I could have told them anyway…
The good news is my Six Degrees Facebook application gets a mention at the bottom of the Guardian article.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Study revives six degrees theory
Proof! Just six degrees of separation between us
Six Degrees of Separation on Facebook
Hi Karl,
Quick thought: Would it be possible to calculate the average number of connections between a given individual and all of the other individuals in a community, such as a university (kind of like an Erdos-Bacon number), using something like Facebook? I wonder if this has been done already. I would guess that this number would vary significantly from one person to another, and could be used to measure the “connectedness” of a given individual in a given community.
I would be very interested to hear your thoughts.
-Dennis