Six Degrees of Separation theory holds true online

[Natoma]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/949558.asp?0dm=N14PT

Watts and colleagues signed up more than 61,000 people from 166 countries for their experiment.

They were asked to reach one of 18 people, including an archival inspector in Estonia, a technology consultant in India, a policeman in Australia and a veterinarian in the Norwegian Army.

One would think that using all forms of communication, i.e. internet forums, Instant Messenger, Email, IRC, Blogs, etc, that the degrees of separation would have shrunk from an average 6 to maybe an average 3-4, especially considering the fact that the "small world" theory arose in the 60's when these exponential forms of communication were not available.

 

[epicstruggle]

i dont think you will get the degree of separation to go down to 3-4. 5 would be a big stretch, but generally speaking 6 is the number for you.

Its like the 80-20 rule. For some reason or other it just works.

later,

 

[Natoma]

I just don't understand the reason why it hasn't decreased significantly from the 60s when the small worlds theory was born. Our ability to communicate with other people has shrunk dramatically given our new forms of technology. One would think that would have had an effect on the average steps required to reach another person.

 

[epicstruggle]

i think the problem is that the contacts you have online and offline tend to be different. let me clarify, online you hang out with people you like, have interests with. Offline you will have relations (personal, proffessional, educational,...) that are more diverse, so your offline relations will spread faster than your online ones. Seems like a fair assesment.

later,

 

[Saem]

Its like the 80-20 rule. For some reason or other it just works.

Considering a lot of things can be put on a normal curve or something resembling it, I'm not suprised.