A US study of text messages suggests the theory that we are all linked by six steps to anyone else may be right - though seven seems more accurate. Microsoft researchers studied the addresses of 30bn text messages sent during a single month in 2006. 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. (source: news.bbc.co.uk)
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