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Published online 13 March 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.670
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Six degrees of messaging
Study of instant messaging shows worldwide personal links.
Yet more evidence has turned up to show that we are only six steps removed from almost anyone else on the planet.
Eric Horvitz, at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, and Jure Leskovec, who was an intern at the time, crunched through masses of data, logging a month's worth of global 'instant messaging' conversations using Microsoft Messenger — software that facilitates chat, in a similar way to e-mail, but in a more instantaneous and less formal fashion.
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