2 degrees of separation

Reading David’s blog entry of August 12th on overhearing conversations, I thought about a kiwi take on this. If this happened in NZ, we would overhead these conversations and probably know the people they were talking about! People talk about 6 degrees of separation – in NZ we have 2 degrees of separation – that is two “degrees” to know someone.

And yes, both 6 degrees and 2 degrees have their own entries on Wikipedia – 2 degrees because it the name of a local telco that has played on the NZ variant of 6 degrees. What interests me about this is the influence it might have on our thinking about networks. How does this 2 degrees web of connection play itself out with regard to entrepreneurial activity? Is it an example of potential weak ties and the ability to work through structural holes to create and realise entrepreneurial opportunity?? Does 2 degrees enable us to more easily connect and perhaps trust others? Or does it limit our networks? Then again, with the internet, face book, blogging, twitter etc, perhaps we are all moving to being connected in less than 6 degrees …

Which in a round about way brings me to the end of my guest appearance on this blog. With a year that is rapidly disappearing, its great to have tried something new! Thank you for reading and I look forward to continuing to be part of the community.

Chris