I think within the context that the research sets itself (connections between people with shared interests / experiences) it is actually quite interesting. You’re right that it is different to Milgram’s original research (and indeed some work done by Microsoft earlier this year on connections with IM). If you take these two studies then you can see that the ‘increased connectivity’ is more marked when you look at connections between people that share interests (even if they don’t know each other). This starts to explore and investigate the nature of online friends and connections, particularly in social networks and online communities. But the research isn’t set in this context and as such you’re right that it does come across as simplistic / opportunistic. Still interesting though, but perhaps more for what they don’t say about it as for what they do say.

Matt

So the manager has a register of all jazz musicians? Does that mean I’m one separation away from everyone in the phone book?

It seems to me someone didn’t quite understand the six degrees of separation theory, or am I missing something here?