Canonical · Network Theory · Model

Metcalfe's Law

Robert Metcalfe · 1980

"A network's value grows roughly with the square of its users, which is why the first users of a network are the hardest to get and the last are nearly free."

The idea

Metcalfe sketched this on a slide in 1980, years before anyone called it a network effect: a network's value scales with the square of its connected users, not linearly.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Six Degrees of Separation (The Small-World Experiment)

"Any two strangers are connected by a surprisingly short chain of acquaintances, because social networks are far more efficiently wired than their size would suggest."

Stanley Milgram · PaperContinue→