Back in the early 2000s, a guy named Sammy came up with a clever idea for his MySpace page. He wrote some code that made his picture and the phrase “Sammy is my hero” appear on anyone’s profile who visited his page. At first, it was just a fun trick, but Sammy wanted to see how far it could go. So, he tweaked the code so that it would not only copy his picture and tagline but also the code itself. This caused a massive chain reaction, and within just 18 hours, his code had spread to a million MySpace accounts, affecting a huge chunk of the platform’s users.
In a panic, Sammy tried to delete his page, but instead, he accidentally crashed the entire MySpace site. This led to serious consequences for him—he was arrested for computer hacking and wasn’t allowed to use a computer for three years. This incident shows how interconnected our digital world is and how quickly information can spread.
Sammy’s story brings us to a fascinating idea about how people are connected. Imagine you have 44 friends, and each of them has 44 friends too. This network of connections could theoretically link you to over 7 billion people in just six steps. This idea is called “six degrees of separation,” suggesting that any two people on Earth can be connected through a chain of acquaintances.
The concept first appeared in a 1929 short story by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy. In the story, characters challenge each other to find someone on Earth they can’t connect to through fewer than five intermediaries. This idea stayed mostly theoretical until the 1960s when a psychologist named Stanley Milgram decided to test it.
Milgram’s experiment, known as the “small world experiment,” involved sending 300 packages to people in Boston and Nebraska, aiming to reach a specific person in Boston. Participants were asked to send the package to someone they knew on a first-name basis who might know the target. While most packages didn’t make it, 64 did, with an average of just 5.2 steps.
However, there were questions about the experiment’s accuracy. Many participants were from Boston or had jobs similar to the target’s, which might have influenced the results. So, while Milgram’s experiment provided some support for the theory, it wasn’t conclusive.
In the 1950s, mathematician Paul Erdős explored how networks work, focusing on random connections. He found that when there are few links per node, networks stay fragmented. But once the average number of connections goes above one, the network starts to cluster, forming a “giant component” where most nodes are interconnected. This is similar to a phase transition in physics and is typical of small-world networks.
In 1994, a game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” became popular. Players tried to connect actors to Kevin Bacon through their co-stars. Sociologists studied a database of actors and found it resembled a small-world network, with short paths between actors and a high degree of clustering. This clustering happens because actors often work together in small groups, creating a network that’s both tightly knit and efficiently connected.
To model real social networks, researchers discovered that a mix of high clustering and a few random connections is crucial. This balance allows for close-knit relationships and the ability to reach distant acquaintances.
In the 1970s, sociologist Mark Granovetter wrote a paper called “The Strength of Weak Ties,” highlighting the importance of acquaintances in networking. He argued that people are more likely to find job opportunities through weak ties—those random acquaintances—rather than through close friends, who often share the same information and connections.
These weak ties are essential for the six degrees of separation, as they provide access to new information and opportunities outside one’s immediate social circle.
Recent studies suggest that the degrees of separation might be decreasing. For example, a 2011 analysis by Facebook found that 92% of users were connected through just five steps, showing a trend toward greater connectivity over time. This change reflects the growing number of connections made possible by social media platforms, which allow people to expand their networks significantly.
The concept of six degrees of separation continues to intrigue us, illustrating the complex web of human connections. To explore this idea further, here’s a challenge: try to send an email to me through a chain of acquaintances, without sending it directly. If your email reaches me through six links or fewer, I’ll send you a postcard as a reward. This experiment will help us understand just how interconnected we truly are.
Draw a network map of your social connections. Start with yourself in the center and branch out to your closest friends, then their friends, and so on. Try to visualize how you might connect to a famous person or someone in a different country. This will help you understand the concept of six degrees of separation and how interconnected we all are.
Recreate Milgram’s small world experiment in class. Each student will write their name on a card and pass it to someone they know well. Continue passing the cards until they reach a designated “target” student. Count the number of steps it takes for each card to reach the target and discuss the results. This activity will give you insight into how networks function in real life.
Play the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game. Choose an actor and try to connect them to Kevin Bacon through their film co-stars in six steps or fewer. This fun activity will help you understand the concept of small-world networks and clustering in social networks.
Identify and list your weak ties—acquaintances or people you know casually. Reflect on how these connections have provided you with new opportunities or information. Discuss with classmates how weak ties can be beneficial in expanding your network and finding new opportunities.
Analyze your social media connections. Count how many friends or followers you have and estimate how many people you could potentially reach through them. Discuss how social media platforms have changed the dynamics of connectivity and whether they have decreased the degrees of separation.
Code – A set of instructions written in a programming language that a computer can execute to perform a specific task. – To create a new software application, the developer had to write thousands of lines of code.
Network – A system of interconnected computers and devices that can communicate with each other to share resources and information. – The school’s computer network allows students to access the internet and shared files from any classroom.
Connections – Links or relationships between different people, systems, or devices that enable communication and interaction. – In sociology, studying the connections between individuals can reveal patterns of social behavior.
Sociologist – A social scientist who studies human societies, their interactions, and the processes that preserve and change them. – The sociologist conducted a study on how social media influences teenage friendships.
Experiment – A scientific procedure undertaken to test a hypothesis by collecting data under controlled conditions. – The computer science class conducted an experiment to see how different algorithms affect processing speed.
Clustering – The process of grouping a set of objects or data points in such a way that objects in the same group are more similar to each other than to those in other groups. – In data analysis, clustering can help identify patterns and trends within large datasets.
Information – Data that is processed, organized, and structured to provide meaning or context. – The database stores vast amounts of information that can be retrieved and analyzed by researchers.
Acquaintances – People one knows slightly but who are not close friends, often forming part of a social network. – In sociology, acquaintances can play a crucial role in spreading information across different social groups.
Connectivity – The state or extent of being connected or interconnected, especially in terms of communication networks. – High-speed internet connectivity is essential for online learning and remote work.
Separation – The division or distinction between different groups, systems, or entities, often leading to a lack of interaction. – The separation between different social classes can be studied to understand inequality in society.
