How do the Small World Phenomenon and the Principle of Six Degrees of Separation apply in today’s hyper-connected World?

As part of our lecture series "Introduction to Business Informatics" at DHBW Mannheim we looked at collaboration systems and social networks. In this context, the Small World Phenomenon is an interesting experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s.

It's a Small World after all

In summary, the experiment analyzed the average path length for social networks of people in the United States by sending shipments from the Midwest to Boston at the East Coast and resulted in the assumption that people are connected via six degrees of separation. Even though there has been a lot of methodological criticism, the experiment has a lot of influence on social sciences and in particular on the research of digital social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn. For example, most social networks display the degree of separation/connection to other users and the number of mutual connections. Compared to 1967, today's hyper-connected world is of course far more connected via the Internet and digital communication channels.

Communication and Human Connections are Key - Also and perhaps more than ever during a Pandemic

The importance of communication and human connections both in personal and professional life is summarized and emphasized by Paul J. Meyer, a self-improvement pioneer:

 Communication - the Human Connection - is the Key to Personal and Career Success.

Despite the various digital and social platforms and networks, we currently realize the challenges of establishing and keeping human connections during a pandemic with its guidelines to isolate and keep physical distance. Especially for career starters and students joining university during times of Remote Classrooms, it is extremely difficult to build relationships and a strong network for their career. For example, the students in the 1st semester class at DHBW Mannheim that I currently teach have barely met in person and if at all only with a distance and wearing a mask.

The Experiment: You're invited to join and get connected

That's why I wanted to setup this real-life Small World Experiment to find out if the "Wirtschaftsinformatik"-Community where business meets technology is also a small world and LinkedIn as a professional social network can be used to build and expand the students' professional network.

So if you read this article and see any way of being connected e.g. as a current or former student of Business Informatics/Wirtschaftsinformatik or a related field, please do not hesitate to leave a short comment, tag or share the article and feel free to connect with other readers and contacts.

I truly believe in the power of communication and human connection and would be very happy if this experiment could help a few aspiring career starters and the students in my class to build up their network and use a social network as a key to unlock their personal and career success. Thank you!