Feb 05, 2016 12:00:00

It turns out that the 'six degrees of separation' that can be connected with anyone by following 3.5 people has shrunk to '3.5 degrees of separation'

by

hepingting

The 'six degrees of separation ' that you can connect to unrelated people who happen to be next to each other or celebrities who only know one-sidedly through the news by following 'the acquaintance's acquaintance ...' is SNS. Then, it became clear that the connection was shortened to ' 3.5 degrees of separation ' because it was connected across places.

Three and a half degrees of separation --Meta Research | Meta Research
https://research.facebook.com/blog/2016/2/three-and-a-half-degrees-of-separation/

The ' Small World Phenomenon ' is the hypothesis that more than 7 billion people live in the world, but it is relatively easy to connect with anyone by following the formula of acquaintances. In 1967, social psychologist Stanley Milgram experimentally verified that the average number of acquaintances needed to connect was six. This is the 'six degrees of separation '.

However, when Facebook conducted a survey of 1.59 billion active users, it was found that they were connected to anyone through an average of 3.57 people. Since the Milgram experiment that spread the 'six degrees of separation' was conducted only in the United States, if Facebook data is also set only in the United States and the conditions are met, the average number of Facebook users is 3.46. However, it was shortened to '3.5 degrees of separation' instead of 6th.

According to Facebook, the majority of people have this value between 2.9 and 4.2. The founder, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was 3.17 and Sheryl Sandberg, COO was 2.99.

By the way, Facebook has done a number of similar surveys, with an average of 4.28 intermediary users needed to connect in a 2008 survey and an average of 3.74 in a 2011 survey.

Anatomy of Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-data-team/anatomy-of-facebook/10150388519243859

Zuckerberg said the number of users will increase by 5 billion in 2030. The above figures have shrunk by 0.54 points in about 3 years from 2008 to 2011 and 0.17 points in about 5 years from 2011 to 2016, but if the number of users really increases to 5 billion, it will be more than ever. Connections may occur here and there, and the world may become even smaller.

Facebook in 2030? 5 billion users, says Zuck
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/02/04/facebook-2030-5-billion-users-says-zuck/79786688/