Small Word Experiment Siwen Zhang Milgrams Small World Experiment - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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.