Microsoft study confirms 'Kevin Bacon' theory

This one is classic:

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.

With records of 30 billion electronic conversations among 180 million people from around the world, researchers have concluded that any two people on average are distanced by just 6.6 degrees of separation, meaning that they could be linked by a string of seven or fewer acquaintances.

The database covered all of the Microsoft Messenger instant-messaging network in June 2006, or roughly half the world's instant-messaging traffic at that time, researchers said.

The Microsoft research focused on the popular concept that has inspired games such as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and a well-known play by John Guare. A "degree of separation" is a measure of social distance between people. You are one degree away from everyone you know, two degrees away from everyone they know, and so on.

Thanks Adi T.

Discuss this Article 8

mikegno
on Aug 2, 2008
Was it done in cooperation with DHS? :) I always bought into the theory, esp. so since the advent of the internet which makes it possible for those widely separated socially and technically to interact. I also thought it was what made the DHS data mining of email or IM traffic traffic patterns stupid. For example, I happened to receive a personal email about a video driver from Brad Silverburg during early Win95 beta testing. Aside from being flattered and his emailing a lowly beta tester showing why Win95 was so successfull, it could also cause the the DHS to deduce that I was only separated from Bill Gates by two degrees of separation, even though it is a pretty laughable idea. Think about all your friends and acquaintances. If you know any foreigners, esp. Muslims, it's likely that you are not that far removed from someone who is under suspicion. Well, I guess that statement is incorrect. We are all under suspicion already.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Aug 2, 2008
From the estimate of 6.2 done with paper mail in the 1969 by Milgram and Travers to 6.6 with the improved methodology, data and technology says a LOT about the initial experiments and analysis. My hat's off to Milgram and Travers.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Aug 2, 2008
@mikegno Although you didn't ask it, the question is implied... The Messenger/LiveID ABCH (address list) is effectively anonymous. The unique identifier of the account is an anonymous GUID-like string of characters that has no personally identifiable data in the types of tables they'd be using or have access to.
johnpapola
on Aug 3, 2008
On distribution, I was talking about the AppStore. Regarding hardware, I', talking about the fact that the iPhone is starting at a very high water mark. As a platform, there are no junk iPhones, they're all the same powerful slate for developers to exploit. This is an advantage for developers in the same way the optimising for a game console is easier than for the PC. Windows Mobile is the follow-on to Windows CE, is it not? Didn't Windows CE 1.0 get released in 1996? That would constitute more than a decade of development. As for he developer tools... I'm just repeating what I read from mobile app developers all over the place. The iPhone SDK is apparently awesome and many many developers have called it superior to working with WinMo. I will concede that everything has strengths and weakness and the iPhone is far from perfect. But as a 2.0 with just over a full year on the market, compared to a OS being pushed on every manufacturer for years... the iPhone is kicking butt. No question.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Aug 3, 2008
John, Since your post was obviously a reply to my post in http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2008/07/31/windows-... I've answered it in the correct thread.
lotsamystuff
on Aug 3, 2008
Don't tell GW Bush. If he finds out every Amer'cun is just a few steps away from the scary ter'rist lurking in the bushes, we're all screwed. Not that we aren't already.
chuckb84
on Aug 7, 2008
A related fun topic is the website http://oracleofbacon.org/ Try to find an actor who has a "Bacon Number" of 4 or more. Not easy. They have lots of similar stuff on the site.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Aug 7, 2008
Amazingly hard. I figured I'd get an easy high number hit with an old friend who was in only one movie and that was in 1968. She had a Bacon number of 3.

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