***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
Well that's nub of the question -- I was wondering if anyone know what
study this referred to, and what the methodology was! I have the
horrible feeling that the meme they're suggesting here will be picked up
unquestioningly by other media outlets and become a much-quoted factoid
without any real substance to it!
- Darrell
Valdis Krebs wrote:
> It all depends what they are using as a definition of a "tie". You put
> the bar low enough and we can beat the average of 4.6 steps easily.
> For instance, how is everyone tied in this group -- SOCNET? Darrell, am
> I now "connected" to you, because I responded directly to your post --
> even though by most definitions we are strangers? We can probably come
> up with several, contrasting, definitions of what is a tie here, and
> therefore who is connected[directly and indirectly], and what the
> average distance is. Oh... is that a simple average or a weighted average?
>
> Remember the old joke about looking for an accountant, and you ask each
> candidate: "What does 1 + 1 equal?" And supposedly the "ideal"
> candidate responds with: "What would you like it to be?"
>
> Valdis
>
>
> On Jan 21, 2006, at 4:50 AM, Darrell Berry wrote:
>
>> Wondering if any of you socnetters has a view on, or references for
>> the Economist's claim (January 21st 2006, A Survey of the Company,
>> p.2) that 'according to more recent work along the same lines [as
>> Milgram's 6-degrees study], that number has now fallen to 4.6' due
>> mostly, they infer, to organisationally- and electronically-mediated
>> networking?
>
>
_____________________________________________________________________
SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social
network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send
an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line
UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.
|