Canonical · Network Theory · Paper

Six Degrees of Separation (The Small-World Experiment)

Stanley Milgram · 1967

"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."

The idea

Milgram's 1967 mail experiment asked strangers in Nebraska to route a folder to one specific Boston stockbroker using only people they knew personally. It usually took just a handful of hops.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Metcalfe's Law

"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."

Robert Metcalfe · ModelContinue→