Saturday, November 22, 2008

Six Degrees Of Separation – The Report


Six Degrees of Separation. Isn’t it amazing how the choices we make can lead us on such unexpected journeys? That’s what happened to me with Six Degrees. Facebook is a kind of Internet-in-miniature, which makes it the ideal place to examine this idea. So, at midday on the 28th October I started up the group, and invited all my friends to join. By the end of that day less than twenty people had joined, and I thought I was going to have to go back to the drawing board. By Day 4 things were looking more promising: we were up to 200 people. It was on Day 5 when things really got going. When I logged on to Facebook I was amazed to discover that the numbers had more than doubled in just twenty-four hours.

A week later, I logged on and, when I saw the numbers had jumped from 3,000 to 30,000, thought my eyes were playing tricks. The following day was our first six figure day – 141,000 new members joined up. The next 16 days were a complete rollercoaster ride. Sixteen six-figure days in a row! This was completely unprecedented! At times we were adding members at a rate of 3 every single second. For six days we were averaging 220,000 new members a day.

Six Degrees -- membership

Day 13 was a real Red Letter Day. At 02:37 (UK time) we hit our first million. I remember sitting at my computer, hitting the Refresh button every few seconds and watching the numbers climbing ever closer to the magic million. When we finally got there the Wall suddenly flooded with messages of congratulations from all over the world – I hadn’t been the only one playing the Refresh game.

It was around this time I realised Six Degrees was more than just research for my new book. This was a truly international Internet phenomenon! Each day I was getting a load of emails from every corner of the globe. Most people just wanted to tell me how much they enjoyed the group; others had suggestions on how we could improve things. I read every single one... and did my best to reply to them all. I was touched that people took time out of their busy lives to write to me.

Six Degrees -- daily growth

Inevitably, there had to be a slowdown. There was no way that we could keep growing at a rate of almost a quarter of a million a day. The slowdown started on Day 18, shortly after we hit two million. Since then there has been a gradual tailing off of the numbers joining. However, like a snowball rolling down a mountain, we’ve had enough momentum to take us past both the three million and the four million mark! Absolutely incredible!

Six Degrees -- four million membersIt was never my intention to prove or disprove the Six Degrees theory – after all, I’m a writer not a scientist. I’m happy to accept that we’re all connected, and leave it up to people a lot cleverer than me to argue over the details. The idea behind Six Degrees Of Separation fascinates me – and judging by how many people joined the group, this is a fascination shared by millions of you across the globe.

Have I managed to contact every single person on Facebook? I like to think so, but unfortunately I have no way of knowing that for sure. The fact is that more than four million of you took the time to join, and that is nothing short of a miracle. As progress marches on, the world gets smaller. That’s inevitable. Whether we’re separated by six degrees or ten degrees or one degree isn’t important. What is important is the idea that we are connected.

All the best,

79 comments:

Anonymous said...

But I don't understand how I have 6 degrees of separation from, say, YOU! No one seems to know what it is, its more of a cult group without the cult. Everyone seems to think they should join but the next question is..."what now???"

Maybe you can add this blog, not just the link but the actual blog, to the Facebook site.

Anonymous said...

How do we see the path of people we are connected to? For instance, I am 5 degrees from Brad Pitt. Who is in between?

mattastrophe said...

I know who knows :)

The Happy Curator said...

Hey, I am five degrees away from Brad Pitt, too! I thought I was exceptional, and now I just feel dejected :-<

How can you track the path?

Donna said...

Hey mine said 5 degress from Brad Pitt too....How does this work?????

Czuk50 said...

this is dumb...how many people bought into that kevin bacon crap? haha HA!

floridagirl said...

I don't understand.. I don't feel special.. I too am only 5 degrees of separation from Brad Pitt???

trina said...

Brad Bitt eh? I'm with the others on this..who do i know to get to Mr. Pitt and is it the famous one or just someone of the same name? I saw keanu reeves coming out of a shop with a little girl as i was goin in. on another occasion as i was crossing the road he nearly ran me over in his pick-up. That's one degree, twice. I also saw the bloke who played Doogie Howzer... remember him? anyhoo, i'd rather be 6 degrees from Johnny Depp!

Missouri G'ma said...

So we are ALL six or less degrees of separation from Brad Pitt? Sounds like a bit of a hoax to me. Is this supposed to impress me? Actually I know there are better answers that face book could have come up with. And gee -- what if I am not a fan of Brad Pitt?

Missouri G'ma said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I too would like to know the path of 5 degrees from Pitt. Because I'm actually only 4 degrees. (1) I went to Roseville High School with the Polish Twins who wrote/directed the Astronaut Farmer starring (2)Billy Bob Thornton..who was married to (3)Angelina Jolie who is now with (4)Brad Pitt. You aren't supposed to count yourself...but this report may be doing that.

gmadonna said...

I know that I have been three or less degrees from President Reagan, President Clinton, and now President Elect Obama. How far does that place me from ANY world leader. It's just a case of knowing who your friends know. I've met few stars as well a professional football and baseball players personally, which puts mewithin 2 degrees of everyone they've met. It's too hard to believe in the "Six Degrees of Separation" I could on.....How far would I be from Brad Pitt?

gmadonna said...

I have been 2 to 3 degrees from every president since Nixon, I've known professional baseball and football players, met a few actors, my son shook hands with Charles Barkley. My point is just knowing who your personal acquaintances know will leave you no doubt of the six degrees. The way I figure, I'm no less than 4 degrees from any world leader, so I'm sure Brad Pitt or anyone else in the limelight is within the six. Believe me, I'm just an average everyday person you probably wouldn't even notice on the street.

anile said...

So this whole thing was just a ploy to get traffic to your blog? How dishonest is that? Poop sandwich, I say!

Unknown said...

so apparently everyone is 5 degrees from brad pitt. Tha what mine says too. so what is the purpose of this? to show yet again our dependence on anyting remotely interesting we find on the internet? Well congrats. U certainly did that.

MeanWillieGreen said...

In my opinion, the funniest thing abut the whole trip is the message: "Your separated by 5 degrees from Brad Pitt"

YOUR? That is a 5th grade grammar mistake. YOU ARE is YOU'RE - someone doesn't understand the King's English.

Brooks Blog By Bob the Blogger said...

your right willie green, and their wrong.

Cornerstoregoddess said...

Yes, the King's English. So's the Queen. ;0)

Purekitte said...

mine also says I am 5 degrees from Brad Pitt... is this just some B.S. that is sent around randomly to people to get them to think the program is doing something? I mean, shouldn't I know how??? It just leads me back to the blog... that's really nonsensical.

Anonymous said...

this is silly we ar econnected

DK said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DK said...

The original www.sixdegrees.com (http://web.archive.org/) and search http://sixdegrees.com/) was right on! with this type of thing. Way before Friendster and Facebook were around sixdegrees.com would should you a map of the link to others. This six degrees of Facebook group doesn't show us anything. You have to look through the members and trace the link yourself. With that being said I could just run through bunch of groups and be 1 degree from EVERYone.

wodster said...

I'm 6 degrees from Brad Pitt. What does that mean?

Marley said...

Everyone's got a cousin in Miami!

nutsey said...

OK so not only am I six degrees from Brad Pitt - I am also going to be Shirley MacLaine reincarnated in my next life (because we are only 6 degrees from anyone famous and Shirley Maclaine is only the reincarnate of famous historical figures)

DD said...

this apparently seems to be some sort of phishing spam to get all of us to come sift through the litany of b.s. blogs and postings to find the well 'hidden' link ALL THE WAY AT THE BOTTOM. This is a marketing scam to get us to come here, but good marketers would give us a reason to come back - unlike these. DD

missfitts said...

Yes! '90s version of sixdegrees. You've failed miserably.

Marvin said...

All I know is that I would like to be 1 degree from Angelina Jolie. :-)

Dr. J said...

I live 4 miles from the Brad Pitt compound in Springfield, MO. Shouldn't I be 4 degrees of separation rather than 5?

Unknown said...

Yawn.

I thought it was cool, but I assumed you actually were trying to do something with it. Marketing.

Unknown said...

well, i don't know about 5 degrees of separation from Brad Pitt, but i am 1 degree from Joe Don Rooney from the group "Rascal Flatts"

Jill Rea said...

I think all I really know now is that there are a lot of people who want to see if they're connected to anyone in six or less degrees.

Scholarlib said...

So disappointed. Where are the recent statistics on how many have reponded? Where is the updated chart? Surely more has happened since the end of 2008! Please, GAB, update your blog on this topic.

Sandi Justice said...

Why dosen't someone figure out how to do a REAL six degrees of separation experiment? I mean HONESTLY, if everyone is 5 degrees from Brad Pitt...what does that prove...other than we have all been scammed by a bloggers NOT SO REAL experiment! I say LET'S FIND A REAL SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT on the subject and see just how connected we all are?

ken scott said...

kinda lame explanation - you have no idea what's goin' on do ya? so ya can't help us at all.

IGPOD said...

This is hilarious, and the 6 Degrees guy claims to be a writer...lol

"In my opinion, the funniest thing abut the whole trip is the message: "Your separated by 5 degrees from Brad Pitt"

YOUR? That is a 5th grade grammar mistake. YOU ARE is YOU'RE - someone doesn't understand the King's English."

Anonymous said...

I can't believe how many of you signed up for this thing having no idea what the 6 Degrees theory is. Look it up and leave Brad Pitt alone.

solfish42 said...

six degrees of separation was originally a sociology experiment in the 70's? Volunteers were given a postcard with the name and country/city of a stranger. They were to pass the the postcard to someone who could maybe get it closer. I know they had alot of volunteers, I don't know the return rate or how long they did it. But enough came back that the researchers found we are all connected by six people to each other, all over the world. Wierd.
I didn't really think too much about it until my college roommate wound up being Dan Quayle's Chief of Staff's nanny. I visited her, and met George Bush the first. What struck me was I was only 2-3 degrees from many world leaders...(yeah..Whooopee)

Unknown said...

OK,
This started with the commercial with Kevin Bacon. So we are actually suppposed to see have far we are all removed from Kevin. I did some research and I 4 degrees removed. My sister in law (1), has a cousin (2) who has Gary Sinese as a cousin(3), Gary knows Kevin from Apolo 13 which they both starred in (4). The premis was to use Kevin Bacon, not Brad Pitt.

cathyruthpbg,ak said...

I also was seperated by degrees from brad pitt. mine was 6 degrees, however. i am a bit disappointed as this experiment had the grounds, the means and the participation to explore this theory and alas, it was all bs. not the first or the last time that i will be momentarily disappointed....

Artie838 said...

why the hell does it matter if you are 5 degrees from Brad Pitt or not. What about knowing that you are within some number of degrees of a Nobel Prize winner or an ER surgeon who has saved lives... Geez people, get some priorities!

Unknown said...

1)Please stop calling it the Kings English.
We have had a Queen as ruler for more than 50 years, (a lot longer than any King!)
2) Who cares about Brad Pitt, or any other star?
3) What does it matter about 6 degrees? At the end of the day, we were all directed here, by a social web site, it's not as if we are really interested in anything scientific! (FUN?)
4 )If you don't like it, don't contribute.
5)This has been a life changing experience for me.(NOT!)
6) I need my bed, this has bored me to distraction.

Unknown said...

The fact remains is that 'We are connected'. Now collectively if everyone contributed $1.00 we could 'collectively' make many changes around the world. We could build a hospital in a third world country- We could send people to college- we could fight hunger....
The real question is are we willing to be accountable to and for one another.

jisles said...

I was previously wallowing at only four degrees of separation from Brad Pitt. My wife has met the state governor, who knows all recent Presidents, who have met all those entertainers. How come you elevated me to five steps away? I'm delighted.

froggy said...

Hello All,
Could someone please tell me how six degrees of separation works? I see myself as a global citizen and I would like to be able to see how I am interconnected with those other folks in the world.

froggy said...

I would love to know how I am connected to people all over the globe. I view myself as a global citizen and believe we are are interconnected in one way or another.
Who can explain how this works to me in a simple, clear way.

Tequila Mockingbird said...

I can't believe some of you have never heard of this concept. USE your Internet and RESEARCH it. Watch the movie (Stockard Channing ROCKS). What's happened to culture?? Kudos to the originator of a fascinating project; I hope we see more "reports" in future. This kind of thing reasserts my firm belief that we are all brothers and sisters, my friends!

Tequila Mockingbird said...

You go, Marianne. Right on!

faerie said...

I agree (about Brad Pitt). The update did say we would find out how if we came here. Living in a small town I often find myself meeting people through friends that I've met before, and on Facebook I've met people from school that I never even spoke to who are family to friends of my 7th child. (Friends that live in another town.) Being separated by 6 (or less) degrees from most anyone is not far-fetched to me. My late husband was uncle to a group of kids I babysat for 30 yrs ago, and tending bar the day I cashed my first paycheck. We met on both occasions but neither was memorable. 20 yrs later we met again and became fast friends, only later to discover our paths had crossed in another life (and of course our respective children had grown up together.) Whenever I make new friends here I look at their friends for people I may already know.

These are examples of what six degrees of separation actually means...and it's amazing how many lives we've touched when you sit back and look at it.

It would be nice if there were a way to map it out for us, but I can't imagine how that could be done. I do find it interesting though to search friends of friends and find people I haven't seen or thought of in years...perhaps our own research along those lines would serve us best after all.

Unknown said...

Brad used to be a client of mine. Does that mean I'm only 1 degree away?

MomTruth said...

If you all want to get really technical, we are all one degree of separation. We are all children of God.

ZorK said...

We have all been had. I too, am 5 degrees separated from B.P. Coincidence? Probably not.
Oh well, it was initially intriguing. Now, it is finally disappointing. I am going to omit myself from the group. Ciao!

Anonymous said...

I could care less if I know Brad Pitt. I'm just interested in the fact that we all are connected some how. I went to school with Katie Courac's niece and she still would be way cool to me if I knew that or not. I met Stevie Wonder so booyah to anyone who know Brad Pitt!
We all came from Adam and Eve, I believe but the differences is what is so interesting.

Anonymous said...

gmadonna, how do yo know all the presidents so closely?

Amy said...

what a load of crap....i too am 5 degress from Brad Pitt as is half the experiment,from what i can gather from the posted comments....i guess the author is writing the book on how to con over 4 million to join a bullshit blog

Christy said...

What a bunch of buLL$h!t--not to mention a waste of time. I feel used. Also, how is it EVERYONE is 5 degrees away from Brad Pitt? Cheap trick.
*rolls eyes*

Gloria Ives said...

Amen, Brother, amen. " I told two friends, and they told two friends and they told two friends, and so on and so on and so on.....) I think that was a Gee your hair smells Terrific Ad, which, by the way, IT Did Smell Terrific." ...And We are all connected to each other, IN a circle, In a Hoop that never ends..." Thank You Pocahontas.


By the Way, my word verification word is "Amendly"
No coincidence. Which is what 6 degrees is all about.
On Ward Young Soldier, Onward!

Unknown said...

I could care less about 5 degrees separation from Brad Pitt. I knew where Rhianna was 6 days before the media could catch up with her, small little fishing community. Anyway, I have met and am related to many prominant people. They are shallow. I prefer taking in the joy of people that are happy that all they have is food, clothes on their backs and a wooden box to live in. God's children that have to call on God because they don't have all of their material possessions getting in the way of the true meaning of life and eternal JOY! Now I know what it means when it is said "it is harder for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God than a camel through the eye of a needle"!

Who cares about the degrees of separation. The same God created us, give and it shall be given and more will be given again.

Now I understand "blessed are the poor because they shall see God!".

God Bless You!

Janet said...

I think it is fun to try to determine degree of separation from various people. I thought this blog would help us do this. Therefore I'm a bit disappointed, but think I've been able to determine my degree of separation from Lisa Minnelli.
If we don't count ourselves, I'm 2 degrees separated.
When I was young, I got separated from my mother at Rockefeller Center. Ended up holding hands with Judy Garland, while she helped me find my mother. She pointed out lisa skating.

Unknown said...

It's a theory, folks. Premise: everyone on the planet can be connected to anyone else by only six links. A link is just someone who has met someone else. If I know someone who knows someone who knows you, we are three degrees apart. Anyone I've met is one degree separated from me. I'm pretty sure there is someone in India, say, who is more than six degrees from me, but there's no way to prove it. Originally, Kevin Bacon was chosen simply as an example of someone who the average person was unlikely to have met.
An experiment to find out whether everyone can be connected without exceeding six links is the whole point. What fun!

Kurt Reynolds said...

What is wrong with you people? This was a Facebook page. Did you really expect to get anything more out of it than mild amusement? Seriously? Sign off and read a book. I feel like I've wasted 10 minutes because I've allowed myself to read all these comments from people whining about trying to be close to a normal person who happens to be famous. Get a little more in touch with your own life and be happy with that.

USC02MOM said...

Yeah...well I was told I was 5 degrees from Brad Pitt just like everyone else. I am actually 3 degrees. I knew Angelina's Mom. SO I am 2 from Angelina.

Shawndra said...

Could someone please explain to me how this all works...I want to be impressed tooooo...LOL

Kimberly said...

I too am 5 degrees from Brad Pitt; not surprising since he has a home where I live; I saw him on his motorcycle three times, in my neighborhood; At the arlington theater, by accident, when both Brad and Angie were doing a publicity gig where I ended up in the crowd, at the right place, at the right time..had my winter clothing on with black hat and smiled at Angie; I respect them so much, so if I ran into them directly, I would say nothing as I have. Both inspiring people and we do share much in common, oddly.

Kimberly

Unknown said...

Many scholars say that everyone on earth are only 6 people away from knowing everyone else......I think this is not only intrieging but amazingly possible. When you think about all the people you know, and then think about all the people they know....and on and on....the numbers and the concept is asstounding.
Years ago there was a British University professor who had a television show called "connections" it ran on PBS for a while......he focused on who in history was connected to who......he began with one person and then followed a limb of the family tree.......it was fasinating to find out who this person was related to and to who through the years was "connected" to........I find this extremely fasinating....so in your quest to see where it could take you.....try this for a bit and see who you can find a connection to within six people.....you might amaze yourself.

Orla Clancy said...

Yes, it's mad, isn't it? I'm supposed to be five degrees from the Pitster. That's hard to believe.

Please visit my blog, http://orlasart.blogspot.com/

Thanks.

Unknown said...

I love this blog, but I DON'T like or appreciate seeing GD in front of awesome blog! How horrible. I bet many people quit your group because of the same reason. How about the best awesome blog or the most awesome Blog or Blog like no other!

Please think about changing your subject. Linda

Silverkin said...

I'm one degree from the lot of you! I'm part of the experiment, so that's a degree of relation.

That makes this whole thing ridiculous, doesn't it?

By trying to trace the degrees, it changes them in the process!

WestsideCoug said...

Blah, Blah, Blah. 5 degrees from Brad Pitt, 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon, who cares. I'm hungry, it's breakfast time, and I'm only 375 degrees (and 20 minutes) from Eating Bacon. Yum!

Pat J said...

Brad Pitt is a memeber and we are all members to so we are all connected to him by this blog.

Unknown said...

Wow, I'm only one degree away from Brad Pitt, and it says I'm his long lost brother. Apparently he's not interested in long lost family members, though, because he has ignore repeated attempts to stalk him and effect a family reunion...

Unknown said...

So, basically this is just a scam to get blog traffic. What a load of BS.

Indian Aryan said...

i'm separated by 5 degrees from Brad Pitt...what does this finding mean?

Indian Aryan said...

i'm separated by 5 degress from Brad Pitt... what does finding means?

Unknown said...

I have a friend in a movie coming out this summer that also has Judd Hirsch in it. Judd Hirsch was also in Independence Day with Will Smith. Who coincidently starred in the movie Six Degrees of Separation. Will Smith was in Legend of Bagger Vance with Matt Damon. Matt Damon was in all the Oceans movies which also starred Brad Pitt. 5 Degrees

Unknown said...

Unlike most who are excited to be, say "5 Degrees away from Brad P." I don't really care much about him or who stands in my way to meet or know him, that might just be "stalker'ish" ..

Nevertheless, I absolutely love the concept of 6 Degrees and believe in it wholeheartedly. In fact, with communications the way they are these days, one might be surprised that the 5 degrees (or the person you know (1st degree) who knows someone (2nd degree) who knows someone (3rd degree)who knows someone (4th degree) who knows someone (5ht degree) who knows Brad Pitt - is really only 2 degrees away, because your 2nd degree knows the 5th degree, but u weren't aware of that.

Anyway, I'd be interested to know how u are keeping track.

www.LinkedIn.com can actually TRACK the degrees. I am directly connected to McCain (1st degree) but I certainly can't get any political favors.

Does it really matter who we know? Of course it does, especially if u are trying to get something accomplished. Power, popularity and money will accomplish great things and it amazes me that those who have all three don't do more for society.

Have I actually sat here and written this? I guess it matters to some degree, now doesn't it!

Unzip1 said...

Ok, I am no expert on this subject, nor many others that I can call to mind at this moment, but I do know enough about life in general to know that, yes, it is entirely possible that somewhere out there, you can find the right combination of people or connections, or whatever to connect you to anyone, anywhere. Now whether it is in 5, 6, or 26 degrees it is still remarkable because of the sheer number of people, past and present, that have graced the face of the earth. Think about how many people there are walking the planet right now and if you are a spiritual person, you would probably believe that we are all connected by 1 degree and that is through whatever higher power in which you believe. However, even outside of that connection just the fact that we ARE all connected, somehow, some way, is enough to cause a sense of awe and wonder in even the staunchest of pessimist. It is in this spirit I think this whole "experiment" should be viewed, as each day another connection is forged and another degree has been surmounted. Even with the simple act of clicking the button to join this group, another connection was made to some 4 million others and just as many single degrees of separation tucked under our belts. So when you consider this idea or theory, I feel that it is being taken MUCH too literally and though, yes, it is entirely possible, is it really as important as the fact that we are connected, period?

Unknown said...

5 degrees my ass! This is bullshit. I am only one degree away from Brad Pitt. Or one booth should I say?

Turns out he was eating in the booth next to me at Dupars. I got up to leave, he got up to leave we each turned and ended up facing each other.

I imagine the internal dialog went something like this:

Me: Hmmm Brad Pitt. I'll bet he is just dying for me not to say a damn thing right now an just keep walking.

Brad Pitt: Holy SHIT!!!!! Who the fuck is this giant ugly fucker? Please don't talk to me! Please don't talk to me!

Me: Well the last thing I am gonna do is act like I care.

Brad: So far so good.

Me: Fuck I ate too much.

After a couple seconds we both smiled, nodded to each other and went our separate ways.

youtube.com/thechurchofdave

Unknown said...

there was a british proffessor who had a tv program called connections. This show delt with the connections of famous people through history, and was based on the fact that everyone is only 6 people away from knowing everyone else. This is amazing....and I believe it to be very true.