The six degrees of separation
Their strength is in occupying many different worlds, and bringing them together. Connectors have fewer than six degrees of separation. To understand the special power of connectors, we need to understand the “six degrees of separation” theory and the profound connectedness of us all.Ĭonnectors tend to be connected to many communities - whether through interests and hobbies, jobs that cause them to work with people in other fields, or other experiences.
Connectors are sociable, gregarious, and are naturally skilled at making - and keeping in contact with - friends and acquaintances. You can find Connectors in every walk of life. Connectors: People With Strong Social NetworksĬonnectors are people who seem to know everyone. Those few, well-connected people are the Connectors. Although everyone is linked by just six degrees of separation, a small group of people are connected to a disproportionately large number of people. Six degrees of separation meaning: At the end of the experiment, Milgram found that most of the letters reached the stockbroker in five or six steps, creating the concept that people all over the world are all connected by six degrees of separation.Įven further, Milgram discovered that half of the letters were ultimately delivered to the stockbroker by three people. Each person who received the chain letter would do the same, until a friend or acquaintance of the stockbroker finally received it and would send it directly to him. He sent letters to 160 people in Nebraska, giving them the name and address of a stockbroker in Boston and instructing them to write their name on the letter and then send it to a friend or acquaintance who might get the letter one step closer to that stockbroker. In the 1960s, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted the “small-world experiment” to research how closely people are connected. The “six degrees of separation” theory starts with Stanley Milgram. The Tipping Point explains how social epidemics - spreading ideas, messages, behaviors, and products - function like viruses, growing gradually until they reach a critical mass (the tipping point) and explode. Social epidemics are aided by the “six degrees of separation” theory. How do you spark a trend that spreads like wildfire, or turn a product into the latest must-have item? You create a social epidemic. We’ll cover the origins of the “six degrees of separation” theory, look at a 6-degrees-of-separation example, and see how the theory is connected to Malcolm Gladwell’s idea of “connectors.” The “Six Degrees of Separation” Theory The idea was popularized by the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” The six degrees of separation theory is the idea that every person in the world is connected to every other person in the world by a chain of family members, friends, or acquaintances that number no more than 5 people. What is the “six degrees of separation” theory? What does it say about how we’re connected? What is a 6 degrees of separation example?
#The six degrees of separation trial
Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading. In his post, he encouraged people to tag six friends to share who they are staying home for and to use the hashtag #IStayHomeFor so he could find the posts and share them.This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. “Right now, like people around the world, I’m staying home because it saves lives and it is the only way we’re gonna slow down the spread of this coronavirus.” He added that everyone has a person they should want to protect and stay home for, and he cited his longtime partner, actress Kyra Sedgwick, as his reason. You know me, right? I’m technically only six degrees away from you,” he said in a video he posted on Instagram.
Expanding on the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game people play to try to find the shortest connection between any given actor and Bacon based on their association with Bacon’s work, the actor took to social media to use that idea to launch an initiative advocating for social distancing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kevin Bacon knows a thing or six about how interconnected the world is, given he’s long been a central figure discussed in the six degrees of separation concept, which asserts that each of us are linked by six or less people.