Six Degrees of Separation Theory 'Proven by Texts'

The BBC has reported today that a Microsoft survey in the US has studied a database of 30bn text messages sent during June 2006. By looking at the number of common connections in the database, the study suggests that any two people are connected by fewer than seven others.

As I've commented before, the growth of social technology, much based around the internet and mobile phones, has brought people around the world much closer together. Despite this, surveys continue to suggest that we are no closer to making connections that we were when Professor Stanley Milgram carried out his original 'six degrees' study in 1967.

That may be the case, but today it's so much easier for us to plot that route. How well do you use the technology available to make the connections you need?