It's become known as the six degrees of separation. Now researchers in New York have attempted to apply that same principle to the internet.
They invited participants to relay a message to a random target using email, with only the person's name, occupation and age to go on.
In one example, the team at Columbia University gave a military officer in Eastbourne a target to find a particular student on the other side of the world.
He e-mailed his uncle in Kampala, who forwarded it on to an arts student in Moscow... who knew a student in Novosibirsk, who knew and e-mailed the student in Siberia.
Four e-mails connected the two people who had no previous ties to each other.
More than 60,000 volunteers from 166 countries took part in a "six degrees of separation" study to track communication chains through cyber space.
Researchers found that social searches can reach their target in five to seven steps. They said that men were most likely to pass the message to other men and women to other women.
The most successful links were ones derived from professional relationships as opposed to family and friendship links.
The findings were published today in the journal Science, published by AAAS, the science society.
'Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age' the latest book by study author Duncan Watts is currently in UK bookshops.
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