Million People Page - Blog (Entries tagged as 6 degrees of separation)

How many lightbulbs does it take to save the world?

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:42:54 -0500

Scientists confirmed the other day what most of us instinctively knew - that we humans are to blame for global warming. The United Nations panel of 2500 scientists representing 130 countries said there is a 90% certainty that our use of fossil fuels since the start of the industrial revolution in 1750 is contributing to climate change.

The problem seems so immense that it is hard to see how any one individual can make a difference. But there is a way... and it starts with the humble lightbulb.

Energy Saving Lightbulbs (or Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs as they are known in the USA) last 8-10 times longer than regular bulbs, use about 75% less energy, and produce 90% less heat while delivering more light per Watt. For example, a 25 Watt Energy Saving Lightbulb provides the same amount of light as a 100 Watt regular bulb.

Their lower energy requirements means that they reduce the amount of electricity used, which in turn reduces the amount of coal and oil burnt in power stations around the world, and therefore the amount of greenhouse gas (and mercury) pumped into the atmosphere.

Oh, and did we mention that they work out cheaper over the long run too? Around £35 ($66) savings per bulb over their lifetime!

As one influential US blogger pointed out, "If we switched all our bulbs, we could stop importing oil altogether. Without giving up one Hummer."

And yet, only 6% of Americans have even one Energy Saving lightbulb in their homes...

So what has this got to do with 6 degrees of separation and friendship networks? Nothing. Except that it is exactly these types of networks which can pass this kind of idea around the globe in days. And it is a subject that we feel pretty stongly about. And yes, our home has Energy Saving lightbulbs in pretty much every room, and has done for the last 5 years - in fact, we are still using most of our original lightbulbs!.

So please, if you are a blogger - blog about this. Or maybe send a link to this page to everyone you know so they can read about it. Or feel free to copy the text and make your own email. Just please - spread the word!

And change your lightbulbs to save the world.

Remembering Rememberance day

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 14:00:55 -0500

Today is Rememberance Day, where we remember all those who sacrificed their lives during the two World Wars and other conflicts. The day, originally known as Armistice day, originally marked the signing of the Armistice at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, which signalled the end of World War One in 1918.

It is also the most popular day so far for birthdays - 6 people share this birthday out of the people 338 listed so far - which is almost 6 times the average expected. Perhaps people born today have a natural tendency to want to find their six degrees of separation...!

Happy Birthday and a peaceful rememberance day to all.

October update

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 12:55:27 -0400

The last couple of months have seen plenty of new countries joining the site - including India, Israel, Venezuela and Brazil. In fact, 26 countries are now represented, and there are over 300 people listed so far, which is over one every day - and the number of people adding profiles has been accelerating over time, which is great.

The most popular birthdays so far are 11th November, 31st May, and 23rd January, and there are some interesting degrees of separation developing.

The Easter Egg feature has also been significantly enhanced, so if you haven't found it yet, keep looking!

And be sure to keep up with your ranking by visiting your profile regularly...

Internet degrees of separation

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 08:32:27 -0400

Came across this fascinating image the other day, from the Internet Mapping Project. It shows all the major Internet Service Providers and how they are connected - sort of a six degrees of separation for the internet itself!

The Internet Mapping Project was started at Bell Labs in the summer of 1998, and it's goal is to acquire and save Internet topological data over a long period of time. This data has been used in the study of routing problems and changes, DDoS attacks, and graph theory.

The image is how I would imagine the people of the world being connected together - some well connected people linking lots of smaller groups of people together. When you contact your friends and ask them to check out your profile - and hopefully add their own - you are making the connections come alive. Who knows - perhaps you are one of the 'major ISPs' of the human population and will end up being our number one ranked person! Add a profile and find out!

The funny thing about May 4th...

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Tue, 02 May 2006 17:07:43 -0400

Whilst chatting to the receptionist at my local dental surgery this morning, she told me that May 4th this year will be very special. Actually, two minutes and three seconds past 1am on May 4th, to be precise.

That is because at that time it will be:

01:02:03 on 04/05/06

Well, in the UK anyway... the Americans would have had this special date on 5th April...

We had our first Canadian join the site over the weekend - and looking forward to many more. To make the site more accessible to people worldwide, and encourage more people to join in, we have tweaked the listing criteria so that people without the means to make the $2 payment can list their profile free - we will add such profiles when our advertising revenues and/or donations to the site covers the cost of each free profile.

Free profiles are not guaranteed listing, will contain ads, and the favourite website link will not be clickable, so if you are wanting to promote a website, then paying is still the way to go...

Word of Mouth Advertising

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 10:55:22 -0400

Word of mouth is the best type of advertising; its free, and a great idea, service or product can quickly reach millions of people when friends tell friends about it.

But it can also be one of the most difficult to achieve. We all have our networks of friends, but often they don't often want to be 'sold' our new product or business idea, regardless of how soft the sell. And how many will then tell their friends?

Enter the Million People Page. Instead of telling all your friends about your new website and just hoping they will find it exciting enough to pass on, why not add a profile, then invite them all to join in too - so you can all discover your six degrees of separation.

That way, not only will you get a great ranking on our site, but you also piggy back your favourite website onto a great viral one! One which your friends friends are much more likely to pass on. After all, giving your friends the opportunity to find out their six degrees of separation means there is something in it for them too...

And if you don't have a website to promote, you can just enjoy the fun of joining in and seeing how you are connected to the world!

We welcomed our first Danish profile on the site this week, and the canny Scots are moving up the rankings as the word spreads in Edinburgh. We have an amazing 9 degrees of separation on the site already, and growing each day.

I have also recently added a visitor map to the site, so people can see where all our visitors are coming from.

Update to Ranking System

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 19:05:00 -0400

Sorry, the movers screen and rankings data is all over the place today because I have tweaked the ranking algorithm so that it takes account of people who have made referral connections.

This is to ensure that the ranking system continues to work as originally intended, i.e. allowing the most connected people to move up the rankings, rather than just the most visually appealing (or unusual!) people who get lots of profile views.

The movers screen and ranking changes should straighten themselves out overnight when they are recalculated.

I think this new algorithm will make the ranking system fairer for those who join as time goes on, as well as emphasising one of the primary aims of the site - letting people discover their 'six degrees of separation'. This way, people can now proactively gain ranking by making connections, as well as by generating profile views.

First milestone reached

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 10:21:00 -0400

We reached our first milestone yesterday - 100 people on the site, from 6 countries. These 100 people represent 100,000 of the worlds internet users, and 650,000 of the people in the world, and we have at least one example of '6 degrees of separation', so we are on track so far!

Thanks to everyone who has helped spread the world so far - there are still 1 billion more internet users out there who have not yet visited the site, so please continue to tell your friends!

Image upload enhancement

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 10:23:16 -0500

I have enhanced the image upload facility so that images which are not square to start with are cropped to 90x90 pixels rather than squeezed. This should hopefully cut down some of the distortion in some people's photos, and means that it is no longer so important whether the photo is square to start with.

Yesterday was a busy day - 8 people added profiles - so looks like things are beginning to happen. Chains of referrals are starting to appear (we already have 4 degrees of separation on the site) and people are starting to change ranks as the profiles get viewed by new visitors.

No international profiles yet, so if you have any friends outside the UK, get them to add a pixel profile!

Leaving a Legacy

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 11:42:29 -0500

Two weeks in now, and traffic is starting to build steadily on the site. So it looks like the word is getting out there now. Google picked up the home page a couple of days ago, and MSN has the whole site indexed now.

To make sure that the six degrees of separation side of things builds, I am trying to rely on word of mouth, so I expect that the site will continue to gain new people slowly at first, then rapidly gain pace as people start building their connections.

One of the other ideas which contributed to the creation of this site is the Disney 'Leave a Legacy' wall at Epcot, where people can have their photo etched into steel and placed on the Leave a Legacy sculpture for future generations to see. I want the Million People Page to be like an internet version, a snapshot of the worlds internet users in 2006, representing all countries of the world.

So why not add your internet legacy today and spread the word!

6 degrees of separation

nospam@example.com (Rob and Heidi) — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:49:47 -0500

One of the most fascinating theories which prompted this site is that of the 6 degrees of separation - the theory that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else through an average of 6 other people.

To really test this theory as the site grows, I have enhanced the "referred by" feature so that it is possible to move up and down the chains of people more easily.

The more people you refer to the site, the more chains that will end up linking to you - imagine being able to click on a random person and then find out that you are connected to them via distant friends!

So, grab a photo of yourself, add yourself to the site, and then tell all your friends - who knows who you may be connected to!