It's not new news in the world of science and the world at large that we are all connected by six or fewer degrees of acquaintance with anyone else on the planet. But here on the Net, social software is hot and everyone is talking about six degrees of separation otherwise known as the small world phenomenon.
Until recently, I just assumed that it would be my close relationships that would bring me the information and opportunities I've been looking for, but this new science of networking says different. It is our bare acquaintances, our friends of acquaintances, who can play crucial roles in our lives. These kinds of relationships are called weak or loose ties.
The people we hang out with don't often give us the breakthrough contacts or information we want because, generally speaking, we know the same people and the same information that they know. However, each of our friends, belongs to other networks that we don't belong to. And in those small tangential worlds, people and conversations - just out of earshot, so to speak, may have something of great value for us if only we could get access to them. Those perfect job leads, apartments, ideal mates and business deals are within your field of six degrees of separation...
That's where the internet and social software come in. Suddenly, it seems, developers are coming out of the woodwork proffering new communities, tools and services that promise to give us an unprecedented level of access to these, just out of reach, riches of information and introduction. These new tools and services grease the wheels of social interaction at a distance so that we can activate this field of dreams through our interests, backgrounds and circles of friends.
Slashdot's Sunday post pointed to these two good posts on social software by Tom Coates and Howard Rheingold.