Facebook to help test 'six degrees of separation'  Posted by
Emma Woollacott  In 1967, the Harvard sociologist Stanley
Milgram conducted the experiment that led to what's become known
as the 'six degrees of separation' theory.  But despite its
popularity - it's even been used as the basis of a successful
film - the theory's never been put to a proper scientific test -
until now.  Milgram's original experiment was very small in
scale. He sent around 300 letters to randomly selected people in
Omaha, Nebraska, asking them to get the letter to a single
'target' individual - a stockbroker in Boston.  The senders were
given some basic onformation about their target, and asked to
send the letter to the person they believed was most likely to
be closer to the target than they.  He found that those letters
that reached their target did it in an average of six stages.
However, only about 60 of the original 300 letters did actually
succeed, making it a dubious theory to say the least.
"Unfortunately, absence of proof i