It has been proposed that everyone on the planet is only six degrees of separation away from anyone else on the planet — in other words, you are six or fewer "friend of a friends" away from "the president of the United States [or] a gondolier in Venice." Only now, with the invention of the internet, that number has shrunk enormously; Facebook's research has found that "each person in the world (at least among the 1.59 billion people active on Facebook) is connected to every other person by an average of three and a half other people."
The "degrees of separation" between people are rapidly shrinking, too. In 2011, researchers at Cornell, the Università degli Studi di Milano, and Facebook calculated the average degrees of separation was more like 3.74. Facebook users have doubled since the last calculation, however, so naturally as more people use the site, we grow more interconnected.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
US and Japan strike trade dealSpeed Read Trump signed what he's calling the 'largest deal ever made'
-
28 nations condemn Israel's 'inhumane killing' in GazaSpeed Read Countries including Australia, France, Japan and the U.K. have released a joint statement condemning Israel's ongoing attacks
-
Israeli gunfire kills dozens at Gaza aid siteSpeed Read The U.N. estimates that at least 875 Palestinians have died while trying to access food in recent months
-
Rubio says US brokered end to Syria conflictSpeed Read Syria's defense ministry was targeted in Israeli attacks on the capital
-
Trump threatens Russia with 'severe tariffs'speed read The president also agreed to sell NATO advanced arms for Ukraine
-
IDF blames 'error' for strike on Gaza water lineSpeed Read Israeli forces attack Palestinians, including children, collecting water in central Gaza
-
Iran still has enriched uranium, Israeli official saysSpeed Read It remains unclear how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US and Israeli attacks
-
Trump U-turns on weapons to UkraineSpeed Read Unhappy with Putin, Trump decides the US will go back to arming Ukraine against Russia's attacks
