Hey, I know You!

So, there I was just Facebook stalking away (you all know you do it too) and I of course found several interesting people to stalk. It wasn't but a few minutes after surfing said person's photos that I saw them in a picture with someone else I knew. I bet almost all of you have done this and the connection was one you would have never expected. So, from said person's photo with other said person you decide to stalk the latter. Suddenly, once again you are looking through pictures and "OH MY GOSH," yet another person you know! What is this world coming to?


I am pretty sure I have just described how most of you Facebook stalk, and if not please start doing this because it is great fun!


Ok, back to the point of this post....

I have always been intrigued with this whole, "six degrees of separation" theory and I have tried to figure it out on more than one occasion. I think I do this because I am genuinely creeped out on a daily basis about how small this world is. If you don't know what I'm talking about, six degrees of separation is the theory that, "everyone is on average approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, 'a friend of a friend' statements can be made". This theory has been tested numerous times and I am not sure what the sure accuracy of it is, but right now I am just concerned with the affect social media is having on this theory.


Social media has supposedly dropped this number to about three, I would have to agree. According to an article on Social Media Today we are all part of three networks; family, friendship and work. Outside of these three we are part of five shared interest networks; Hobbies; Location; Religion; Sexuality; and Politics. 


I guess you could say all of this is true, but you don't actually believe it until you see that Bobby Sue, your friend from high school, is friends with Mary Jane, your sorority sister from a different college, and that Mary Jane is the sister of Bob, your ex-fling you who you only went on a couple of dates with. I think it is only at that moment when you see that connection and think to yourself, "Hey! I know her/him," that you can truly feel the world is a tiny bit smaller.


Creepy.....I know.


**Sidenote: While looking this up online I found that there used to be an actual Facebook application for this....I wish it would come back!

Eventually everything connects - people, 

ideas, objects. The quality of the connections 

is the key to quality per se.

- Charles Eames