CARDRUNNERS

Several months ago, when I was in my reading phase and out of books one day, I picked up The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.  I had tried reading it a couple years ago when it was given to me, but I didn't find it that interesting.  This time I vowed to plow through it regardless.  I still don't feel it's his best work, but it had some interesting points. 

The one idea I want to talk about today is the concept behind six degrees of separation.  It has become ingrained in pop culture from the Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation game.  But it all started by a study in the late 1960's by Stanley Milgram who wanted to better understand how people are connected.  What was remarkable about the study was that although most people aren't widely connected, they were able to socially connect with any random person in the US within 5 to 6 levels of separation. 

How was this possible?  Most of us don't have particularly broad and diverse groups of friends.  We tend to associate with those in close proximity to ourselves.  When asked, we'll say we associate with those who we share similar attitudes, but the reality is often that it is more a factor of convenience, proximity and shared activities than of similar attitudes.  As Malcom stated "We're friends with the people we do things with, as much as we are with the people we resemble.  We don't seek out friends, in other words.  We associate with the people who occupy the same small, physical  spaces that we do."  The key issue in making these connections is that all degrees are not equal.  Most of us still do have a small number of associations, but there are special people that he calls 'connectors' that accelerate the wide connection process.

The perfect person that I can use to illustrate this point of being a connector is CR's very own Spudt24.  He is but one member of over ten thousand, but I would argue that in a six degrees of separation game that he would connect more people than most others within CR.  He holds all the classic qualities that Gladwell attributes super connectors.  He is affable and easy to get along with.  He naturally connects with many people easily.  He likes exploring and trying new things.  His job has him traveling the country regularly interacting with many different people.  He makes an effort to reach out to people.  He is is part of that rare group that would be the ideal connectors to accelerate connections with many random groups of people within 5 or 6 steps.

The one element that Gladwell doesn't deal with in The Tipping Point is the internet.  In the internet age, the physical proximity issue is almost mute.  At the flick of a key or mouse, we can connect with almost anyone anywhere.  We can maintain contact with a much wider range of people.  In some ways, it could be argued that I have more friends and acquaintances online than off.  Granted that I am older, settled with family, and more homebound than someone in their early 20's, but I think the point is still valid.  We can support and nurture these online connections by 'real world' get togethers, but the main mode of communication and interaction is the internet.  The geographical distances prevent regular physical interactions, but allow us to connect online easily.  Over time this will probably revolutionize the six degrees of separation paradigm into being able to connect with anyone anywhere in the world in fewer connections, maybe as little as 3-4 degrees.