Degrees of alumni connection

There's an interesting post on TechCrunch today about the need to update Milgram's Six Degrees of Separation which, as one recent study they cite predicts, may now be more like three degrees. Spend some time on Facebook and it's hard to disagree that we're not more closely connected with others than we were 40 years ago when Milgram's theory caught on.

It would be an interesting project to investigate just how many degrees of separation are between generations of a college's alumni and what role technology plays not only in decreasing the number of degrees but also highlighting that you are closely connected.

Fewer degrees of separation
College social networks, hosted or free range, have the potential to connect alumni beyond class years or groups they may have participated in while on campus. Alumni, years separated from alma mater, who share common interests, values or practices can connect through these networks, pulling them a few degrees closer to each other.

Highlighting the degrees
Similarly, you might not know that you're connected via your alma mater to the hiring manager at the company you've longed to work for, or that favorite author, or someone who lives in your neighborhood, but the technology that drives the networks allows people to make these discoveries.

I'd bet that the average degrees of separation among college alumni, from big schools and small, is fewer than six. Just think of how many generations of alumni some faculty members reach. Or coaches. Think of the person who has worked in the main dining hall every day for 20 years. And those are just the on-campus connections. Think of how the network explodes as alumni enter the workforce, work in their communities, and grow their families.

Comments

[Andy Shaindlin]

You're right. Certain nodes (those faculty and coaches for example) act as multipliers across the network, decreasing the need for yet one more connection between you and some person who came to campus well before or after you did.

As for Milgram, I'm not sure we're more closely connected (maybe a little); but it's absolutely the case, as you suggest, that the connections we do have are no longer invisible. The online tools make the connections visible, and therefore, more likely to be useful.