Six-Degrees of Separation and then Some – Study confirms ‘Kevin Bacon’ theory

 Study confirms ‘Kevin Bacon’ theory – Washington Post- msnbc.com

WASHINGTON – “Turns out, it is a small world. The “small world theory,” embodied in the old saw that there are just “six degrees of separation” between any two strangers on Earth, has been largely corroborated by a massive study of electronic communication. “

six degrees from wikipedia.

This is stunning work. Almost as critical as finding some universal cosmic constant. Granted MSN Messenger users may not represent all of humanity. That the degree of separation converges to between 6 to 7 indicates a consensus built over multiple independent studies.

“To me, it was pretty shocking. What we’re seeing suggests there may be a social connectivity constant for humanity,” said Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft researcher.

Six degrees bar in Leela Mumbai – a Deepak favorite

So what are the apparent limiters to presuming this number if any is universal?

1. It tracks MSN Messenger users only.

2. They are mostly concentrated in large coastal cities and populations.

3. This tracks online behavior only.

Colleague Jure Leskovec. “People have had this suspicion that we are really close. But we are showing on a very large scale that this idea goes beyond folklore.”

Having said that, there are multiple other questions both experiential and theoretical:

(a) Is having someone on my MSN Messenger list the same as being 1 degree separated from them? I had hardly know or talk to any of them. Is there a need for weightage of connection in addition to a degree of separation?

(b) If this were all one big graph, then is it uniform (unlikely), clumpy (maybe) or foamy (like the surface of foam bubbles – the universe is).

(c) How are micro-clusters such as Linkedin and Facebook changing this?

(d) Do mobile calling and text-ing patterns (some studies have been conducted) behave differently?

(e) Would this change how online marketing is done, how money is spent and passive advertising works? Is there an ROI that finally makes sense?

(f) Wonder how the highly classified, ossified and stratified caste system in India  influences this number – would it plummet closer to 4?

- Deepak Srinivasan

Technorati Tags: Caste system,India,Kevin Bacon,MSN,MSN Messenger,Six Degrees,Six Degrees of Separation,Eric Horvitz,Jure Leskovec,John Guare,Stanley Milgram,Jeffrey Travers,Facebook,Linkedin,Leela Mumbai. Champagne