This article introduces a new study that supports the theory that it only takes six steps to link everyone. The idea was first introduced by the American Stanley Milgram. He completed experiments where he asked people to pass a letter to others they knew only by name. He concluded that the average number of times the letter was passed on was six. There have always ben counter-arguments to his claim, such as when Judith Kleinfeld (a professor from Alaska) took another look at Milgram's research notes and revealed that 95% of the letters never made it to their final target.
Now, a new study by Microsoft researchers announced that Milgram's theory might be right. The researchers studied 30 billion instant messaging addresses during one month in 2006. They discovered that to their knowledge the study had for the first time confirmed Milgram's theory, even though seven links seems more exact. I think it is amazing that we finally proved this theory using technology. Not only is technology so dispersed that we are all linked by six or seven people, but we have the technology to study 30 billion instant messages. In the original 2006 article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/) where Kleinfeld disproves Milgram's theory as an urban myth, he argues that it's not the number of links that's important but the quality. There are barriers such as class rank that can make the separation deeper and farther apart. The theory may have been used to make the world feel like a smaller place if everyone was connected by six people.
There is also another experiment on facebook, where a group was created to see if the theory is correct. As for now the group has over 200,000 members but there are about 17 million users on facebook. So I think the Microsoft study might be more accurate.
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