Six degrees of separation has just gotten closer. New research has shown that it is no longer 6 degrees that separates people but it is now 4.74. The experiment used Facebook and a series of algorithms as the means to calculate the links between people and the friends they have. This experiment shows how social media has created a vast network of people. A person can easily connect with a person on the other side of the world through connecting with 4 different friends. Facebook is bringing people closer together.
This makes sense, because 1 out of 10 people in the world have a Facebook.
The full article can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/technology/between-you-and-me-4-74-degrees.html?_r=1&ref=technology
when i was in high school i read a play called "6 Degrees of Separation" and i remember being extremely moved by the idea that so many people can be bound to others by so few steps. so now to see that it's even fewer people stuns me. makes you think how small the world really is...
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