Does Everyone in the World Instant Message?
A study reported by the BBC claims that the largely discredited six degrees of separation theory might in fact be correct after all:
A US study of instant messaging suggests the theory that it takes only six steps to link everyone may be right – though seven seems more accurate.
The study which was published in March this year was conducted by researchers from Microsoft and looked at the addresses of 30 billion instant messages sent during a single month in 2006.
One of the researchers on the Microsoft Messenger project, Eric Horvitz, said he had been shocked by the results.
“What we’re seeing suggests there may be a social connectivity constant for humanity,” he was quoted as saying by the Washington Post newspaper.
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