A Social Networking Services System Based on the “Six Degrees of Separation” Theory and Damping Factors

Abstract

In the 1960s, a mathematical conjecture was brought forward with the name "Six Degrees of Separation" and indicated that the gap between any two people was not more than 6. It was widely used in the field of sociology and came under more and more attention. However, with the help of the Internet, people are becoming connected than ever and the social networking is expanding well beyond previous limits and barriers. We established an instant message system to provide online-chatting services for people so as to collect their social relationship information and calculate the lastest "degrees" nowadays. The routing algorithm and damping factors were applied to the system so as to get satisfactory resluts while optimizing the theory's validation and increasing its credibility.