Small Word Experiment Siwen Zhang
Milgram’s Small World Experiment Instructions: Given a target individual(stockbroker in Boston) , pass the message to a person you correspond with who is “closest” to the target.
Milgram’s Small World Experiment Outcome: 20% of initiated chains reached target Average chain length ~6.5 “Six degrees of separation”
Milgram’s Small World Experiment Two significant features characterize a small-world network 1. Short paths exist. And 2. People are good at finding them.
The “six degrees of separation” model
Small world phenomenon: • social networks are “searchable” • short acquaintance chains
Continued research Small world Project Email experiment 60,000+ participants in 166 countries 18 targets in 13 countries including • a professor at an Ivy League university • an archival inspector in Estonia • a technology consultant in India • a policeman in Australia and • a veterinarian in the Norwegian army 24,000+ message chains
• Type, origin, and strength of social ties used to direct messages.
• Reason for choosing next recipient
Attrition rate is approximate constant
Estimate true distance distribution
Conclusion • In the study of global social network, all targets may in fact be reachable from random initial senders in only a few steps • Small differences in either attrition rates or the chain lengths can have a dramatic impact on the reachability of all targets. • Successful global social network sensitively depends on individual motivations.
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