The phrase “it’s a small world” may be reflected as truth more and more thanks to Facebook. We can virtually befriend people anywhere in the world with a single click of a mouse, which is causing the rift between the world’s populations to decrease. The existing theory was that there are six degrees of separation between any two people in the world – which means you should be able to connect any one person to another through six intermediary contacts.
However, Facebook has conducted a large study and determined the average user is just 4.74 degrees from any other member. In fact, 92 percent of all members were only separated by four degrees, and in the United States the average was only 3. The statistics were determined by a non-peer-reviewed study of 721 million Facebookers. The social networking site teamed up with the Università degli Studi di Milano for the research.
Despite the remarkable connection between people worldwide, the study found that each user’s immediate circle of friends is surprisingly non-diverse. Most members’ circle of friends share a common age range and close proximity to their location.
A similar study was performed in the ‘60s by a social psychologist named Stanley Milgram. He aimed to give validity to the six degrees of separation theory through his experiment. 296 people participated in the study, and Milgram instructed each to deliver a message to a specific man that resided in Sharon, Massachusetts. They were not allowed to speak to the recipient directly, unless they happened to know him personally. Instead they were to pick a friend they thought would be more likely to know the man, and relay the message to him or her.
The average number of links before the message actually reached the intended recipient was only 5.2. The revolutionary finds were (and still are) pretty fascinating. No two people are separated beyond a few degrees, and furthermore people were able to effectively communicate through the channels without the broader perspective of the whole network.
Although Milgram and Facebook’s findings on the degrees of separation were similar, the two studies had notable differences – one being the ambiguity of the typical Facebook user’s contact list. Chances are most users don’t even know all contacts in their online friend circle. This creates a more global network since relationships are not just limited to personal, face-to-face contacts. Thus, the links between Facebook members represent the quickest possible routes each of Milgram’s participants could have taken.
Regardless of how you look at the situation, it is apparent the internet is bringing people all over the world closer together (not that we needed scientific studies to tell us that). A benefit of Facebook that is often overlooked is its ability to shed light on how humans are interrelated and how exactly ideas spread though our society. The groundbreaking social networking site has transformed relationships worldwide, and will continue impacting our society for years to come.
This is guest post submitted by Tyler Moore, who is a professional writer and marketer for USCharterService.com
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