The six degrees of separation theory

Is it true that we are only six contacts away from meeting anyone?

Since the dawn of humanity, people have needed to group together in order to survive. From the family groups of prehistoric times to today's megacities with millions of people living in them, our history and development as a species has been due to the collective effort to survive and thrive. And in this effort, each and every one of us weaves our own network of contacts, who in turn have their own. And today, when we live in a globalized and interconnected society through networks, it is not impossible to think that we could actually get in touch with anyone.

This thought has led some researchers to generate different theories that try to reflect the possibility that we are all interconnected. One of the theories that has been used in this regard is the theory of the six degrees of separationof which we are going to talk about next.

The theory of the six degrees of separation: origin and basic idea.

The so-called theory of the six degrees of separation is a theory that states that any person can be interconnected with any other person in any part of the world through a chain of contacts that does not exceed six people, there being only five points of union between the two.

Although it seems to be an idea typical of a globalized world like today's society, the truth is that it is a theory that has its origin in the first proposal in 1929, being its author the writer Frigyes Karinthy and appearing in its publication Chains (chains, in English).

The original idea makes sense and is viable: we know a large number of people throughout our daily lives (later authors such as Watts propose around one hundred), and these in turn know many others, who in turn will also have many others. In the long run, the number of interconnected people would grow exponentially, making it easier and easier making it easier and easier to eventually find contacts in common with the target subject, and eventually if we wanted to send him a message we would only have to follow this chain.

Social connection points

However, the fact that only six highs are necessary is more difficult to prove. The specific number of "jumps" was hotly debated until 1967, when the well-known psychologist Stanley Milgram (the same as Milgram's experiment on obedience to authority) conducted a series of experiments in an attempt to resolve the question, in what became known as "the small world problem"..

In one of them, Milgram provided different people at random with a series of letters to be sent to an unknown person located in Massachusetts, solely through acquaintances. While many of the letters never arrived, not least because many participants did not pass them on or their contacts did not keep trying, in the cases where they did, an average of six steps were counted.

Milgram's experiments in this regard might be unrepresentative, but other research has subsequently been carried out (and some relatively recent ones, such as one in 2001) which seem to show that the number of (and some relatively recent ones, such as one in 2001) that seem to show that the number of necessary jumps, although not absolute, on average is still around six jumps.

Theory in the information society: six steps (or clicks) away.

Time has passed since the theory was first proposed, and many social and technological advances have appeared since then. Among them we can find the emergence of the Internet and social networkswhich facilitate interaction between people from all over the world. Thus, nowadays it can be even easier to establish contact between people who are far apart and different from each other.

Moreover, the use of these networks allows not only contact, but also the calculation of the separation between people: LinkedIn or Facebook are examples of this. However, the data obtained show that the theory of the six degrees of separation may have evolved over time, and the distance may be much smaller today. For example, a 2011 study by the Universitá degli Studi di Milano and several Cornell researchers shows that the distance between two people on Facebook is 3.74 people..

Other difficulties

We cannot fail to point out that although this theory may be relatively supported, we must take into account that there are a large number of variables that can interfere with the specific number of hops: it is not the same to get in contact with someone from the same city as someone from another continent, or who has a different language.

The difficulty will also vary depending on whether the person is more or less popularly known, or whether or not he or she shares a hobby or a job. Another problem is found in the media: today we can generate more diverse contacts thanks to new technologies. contacts thanks to the new technologies, but those who do not have them do not enjoy the benefits of the new technologies.but those who do not have them do not have this option.

Finally, it is different to contact someone in a city than in a town with few inhabitants, and if we go to the extreme we can find much more difficulty in contacting a subject in situations such as war, extreme poverty or famine. Or if one of the two extremes (the one who initiates the search for contact or the target of this) is a member of an indigenous tribe or a culture isolated from the rest of the world.

The usefulness of this theory

It is possible that reading this theory may seem interesting for information purposes, but the truth is that it is not just a curiosity: it is useful in many sectors.

One of them is that of networks in the business world, in such a way that it allows us to study how to formOne of them is that of networking in the business world, in such a way that it allows to study how to form portfolios of clients and contacts that can facilitate them. It could also be applied in marketing and advertising, when taking into account the formation of chains of contacts to promote the sale of a service or product. Word of mouth can also be linked to this factor.

Finally, the theory of the six degrees of separation can also be useful at the educational level: it can be used and taken into account for the transmission of pro-social values, prevention programs (e.g. sex education, drug prevention or prevention of gender-based violence) or information.

Bibliographical references:

• Watts, D.J. (2006). Six degrees of separation. The science of networks in the age of access. Editorial Paidos.