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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Study revives six degrees theory | Study revives six degrees theory |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| A US study of instant messaging suggests the theory that it takes only six steps to link everyone may be right - though seven seems more accurate. | |
| Microsoft researchers studied the addresses of 30bn instant messages sent during a single month in 2006. | |
| Any two people on average are linked by seven or fewer acquaintances, they say. | Any two people on average are linked by seven or fewer acquaintances, they say. |
| The theory of six degrees of separation has long captured people's imagination - notably inspiring a popular 1993 film - but had recently seemed discredited. | The theory of six degrees of separation has long captured people's imagination - notably inspiring a popular 1993 film - but had recently seemed discredited. |
| One of the researchers on the Microsoft Messenger project, Eric Horvitz, said he had been shocked by the results. | One of the researchers on the Microsoft Messenger project, Eric Horvitz, said he had been shocked by the results. |
| "What we're seeing suggests there may be a social connectivity constant for humanity," he was quoted as saying by the Washington Post newspaper. | "What we're seeing suggests there may be a social connectivity constant for humanity," he was quoted as saying by the Washington Post newspaper. |
| "People have had this suspicion that we are really close. But we are showing on a very large scale that this idea goes beyond folklore." | "People have had this suspicion that we are really close. But we are showing on a very large scale that this idea goes beyond folklore." |
| Urban myth? | Urban myth? |
| The database used by Mr Horvitz and his colleague Jure Leskovec covered all of the Microsoft Messenger instant-messaging network, or roughly half of the world's instant-messaging traffic, in June 2006. | The database used by Mr Horvitz and his colleague Jure Leskovec covered all of the Microsoft Messenger instant-messaging network, or roughly half of the world's instant-messaging traffic, in June 2006. |
| For the purposes of the study, two people were considered to be acquaintances if they had sent one another an instant message. | |
| Examining the minimum chain lengths it would take to connect all the users in the database, they found the average length was 6.6 steps and that 78% of the pairs could be connected in seven links or fewer. | Examining the minimum chain lengths it would take to connect all the users in the database, they found the average length was 6.6 steps and that 78% of the pairs could be connected in seven links or fewer. |
| The idea of six degrees of separation was conceived by US academic Stanley Milgram, after experiments in which he asked people to pass a letter only to others they knew by name. | The idea of six degrees of separation was conceived by US academic Stanley Milgram, after experiments in which he asked people to pass a letter only to others they knew by name. |
| The aim was to get it, eventually, to a named person they did not know living in another city. | The aim was to get it, eventually, to a named person they did not know living in another city. |
| The average number of times it was passed on, he said, was six - hence, the six degrees of separation. | The average number of times it was passed on, he said, was six - hence, the six degrees of separation. |
| However, in July 2006, Judith Kleinfeld, professor of psychology at Alaska Fairbanks University, went back to Milgram's original research notes and discovered that 95% of the letters sent out had failed to reach their target. | |
| She suggested that the six degrees theory might be the academic equivalent of an urban myth. | She suggested that the six degrees theory might be the academic equivalent of an urban myth. |
| The Microsoft researchers said that, to their knowledge, their study had for the first time validated Milgram's theory on a planetary scale. | The Microsoft researchers said that, to their knowledge, their study had for the first time validated Milgram's theory on a planetary scale. |