Sorry, Kevin Bacon: Facebook Study Shows 4.74 Degrees of Separation
New Facebook Study Counters Classic Theory of Six Degrees of Separation
A new study on social networking platform Facebook shows that there exists 4.74 degrees of separation between every two users, compared to the longstanding six degrees of separation theory.
The distance of separation between two people has "been shrinking over the past three years as Facebook has grown," according to the Facebook Data Team.
Facebook joined forces with the Laboratory of Web Algorithms at the University of Milan to study the degree of separation between any two Facebook users. According to the results, 99.6 percent of all user pairs were connected by five degrees of separation, or six hops, while 92 percent were connected by four degrees of separation, or five hops.
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This theory of minimized separation comes from the original six degrees of separation theory, which was first addressed by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy in his 1929 short story "Chains." The theory revolves around the "small world phenomenon," meaning every person in the world is more closely linked to strangers than they would initially presume.
John Guare popularized the theory in his play and movie “Six Degrees of Separation.”
The theory then became a product of pop culture with the trivia game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," in which players prove they can link any Hollywood movie or figure to well-rounded and popular actor Kevin Bacon.
The public has been taking to Twitter, and of course Facebook, to express their surprise or concern regarding the rapidly-decreasing gap between themselves and strangers.
"Very Interesting Networks. Locally Sparse and Globally Dense," commented Jeffrey John on Facebook.
Some express surprise that the gap has so greatly decreased with such an increase in world population, which recently reached 6.8 billion, especially after it became a fad for expecting parents to make Facebook pages for their unborn child.
"The real surprise is that it is four degrees versus six degrees a half century earlier," tweeted a user named "acnMobility."
Others express dismay at the report, arguing that technology desensitizes people from the real world, thus evolving cyber relationships while regressing human relationships.
"But now even the person next to you becomes so far away," tweeted "Refutethis."
Facebook currently has more than 800 million active users globally on the network.
