Six degrees of separation



"Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is an average of six steps away from each person on Earth."

Six degrees of separation, English Wikipedia

This concept is one of the fundamental principles on which are based most digital social networks as LinkedIn or Facebook, for example. The statement itself is mostly true, even if the exact number of steps between people differs depending on the population measured and the types of links used. In any case, it is generally found to be relatively small according to several researches and experiments. But what does it really mean? Which is the difference between having a connection of sort with someone and having real access to that person?

We all have friends, or at least acquaintances. Some of them might know some important people, which in their turn may know some very important people. But does it mean that we have really access to those VIP’s? Probably yes, we have if we really need to, and if we are very motivated and resolute, especially if we are introduced by someone who feel indebted towards us. However, the more important is the individual we are trying to contact, the greater is the favor we are asking for, and therefore the obligation we will have to repay.

Let me make a practical example. Just consider my real network, that is, not one of the several social networks I joined, but my real life network: people whom I personally know, who personally know my second degree ring, that in their turn personally know my third degree ring, and so forth.

I really know a person who personally knows very well the Pope. I will not tell you the name, of course. Anyway, Joseph Ratzinger, Papa Benedetto XVI, is two steps away from me. Since the Pope knows very well the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso is three steps away from me. Isn’t it bad, is it? Does it mean that, in case I would need tomorrow to meet Joseph Ratzinger or Tenzin Gyatso, it will be easier for me to obtain a date with respect any other person in the world? I think not, unless I would have a very good and serious reason; but in such a case my opinion is that any person might obtain the same result by simply writing a letter directly to them. Of course, if the reason is really a grave one.

Another example, always related to my own network. I personally know a person who personally knows the current Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, as well as a person who personally knows the current leader of opposition, Walter Veltroni. So they are both two steps away from me. On the other hand, Berlusconi personally knows very well both George Walker Bush, the current President of United States of America, and Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the current Prime Minister of Russia as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. So they are both three steps away from me. However, Bush family had business connections with bin Laden family, so it is very probable that some member of bin Laden family is four steps from me, and therefore that Osama bin Laden himself is probably five steps away from me only! So I do not even need six steps to reach Osama bin Laden, the founder of the jihadist organization Al-Qaeda!

Of course it is also possible that someone that I know be in contact with an immigrant from Iraq or Egypt who is really a terrorist of Al-Qaeda, so that Osama bin Laden might be closer to me in my network that I could imagine. Anyway, let us focus only on people we know very well and their own personal networks. According to the analysis I performed, I would be potentially connected to some of the most important and influencing people of the world within three steps only. Not a bad result, but absolutely useless to me. The point is that we should not only count links, but give a weight to each of them. The more important is the person we are linked to, the higher is the weight of the link itself; the higher is the weight of link, the more difficult it will be to have access to that individual, unless we have a very strong relationship with such a person, of course. So, the difficulty to walk through a connection is balanced by the trusting we have with the person on the other side of it.

Those considerations give a different perspective to social networks and to the six degrees of separation concept. Just representing a social network as a web of nodes and links, it is not only important how far away is an individual in order to estimate how difficult might be to have access to that specific node. We have also to take in consideration other two important parameters: the connection weights and the trusting with respect that node. Each node, in fact, has a different rating depending on the "first step" node it is linked to. The higher is the rating, the easier is to cross the link, even if the connection weight is high.

This perspective is fundamental to better understand digital social networks too. In fact, higher is your reputation in a social network, easier will be for you to increase your network, but harder will be for others to access you. Even if you are willing to easily accept requests of friendship from unknown people, in fact, you will be probably available to accept demanding requests only from a small set of friends, unless the requester has been introduced by someone you really trust.

So, if you have just joined a new social network, your strategy to develop a valuable personal web of connections should be the following:

  • first increase your first and second rings by selecting people with a good reputation, but avoid to try to go directly to the higher ratings: you will be given a refusal and miss an opportunity that you could take later;
  • increase your reputation in network: how, it will depend on network, of course — helping people is a good approach, anyway;
  • carefully select request to connect to you, avoiding people with very low reputation, unless their rating is low because they are new, but do not refuse a request just because the person is not important, since you cannot know whom that person may know in real life.

Social networks can be a valuable tool to improve your ability to make business, to increase your experience, to develop opportunities in any area, both personal and professional, and of course to meet interesting people. A strong network is always a valuable resource, but do not rely only on the number of links: stake on quality.

Commenti (2) a «Six degrees of separation»

  1. utente anonimo ha detto:

    Very thoughtful. All people are important in one manner or another. So the criteria for a quality contact must be defined by each person. Quality may mean the persons they know, their reputation, the knowledge they may have to share, the ability to promote understanding and peace between various cultures, or the sense of support they may give to your projects. A contact may not be a friend or an acquantence, but perhaps they can become a friend upon time and understanding. Care and thought should be given to contacts.

  2. utente anonimo ha detto:

    Well, of course quality matters when you actually need to activate (use) a connection, but the size of your network might make it possible to reach connections (of quality..) that you would otherwise not get access to.

    What services such as LinkedIn do is that they make the degrees of separation more visible, so that you get to know who seperates you and the connection you desire contact with. Although it might still require a lot of effort to actually get into contact with a second or third degree connection, at least you know who you have to go through in order to reach him/her.

    As you say in your article, strong ties are more likely to help you, BUT they are also more likely to be in the same social network as you. This also means that you know many of the same people and that the chance of reaching new resources is less than with weak ties – who will usually travel in different social networks. This is also why weak ties are often key connections to professionals.

    So I agree that quality matters, but size will in many cases be equally important.

    Another thing is that this also depends on the person that is using the network. Very simple and short put (there’s a lot more to this): If you already have a well-established network and a professional reputation, a big network can be quite useful because you already have some leverage. If you have just started your professional career or have a relatively small network to start with, the quality of connections might be more important to help you forward.

Nessuna retrotraccia o avviso a «Six degrees of separation»

Si prega di usare Facebook solo per commenti brevi.
Per commenti più lunghi è preferibile utilizzare l'area di testo in fondo alla pagina.

Commenti Facebook

Lascia una risposta





Nel rispetto delle apposite norme di legge si dichiara che questo sito non ha alcun scopo di lucro, non ha una periodicità prestabilita e non viene aggiornato secondo alcuna scadenza prefissata. Pertanto non può essere considerato un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge italiana n. 62 del 7 marzo 2001. Inoltre questo sito si avvale del diritto di citazione a scopo accademico e di critica previsto dall'Articolo 10 della Convenzione di Berna sul diritto d'autore.