How ActiveRain is Reducing "Six Degrees of Separation"

I think everyone has heard the phrase, "six degrees of separation". It's a theory that states that everyone on the planet has a connection with someone else through six "people links". It has been tested a number of times by scholars over the past 20 years and although the theory has not been proven, the results suggest that the average number of "intermediaries" for people having no known connection, is in fact, six individuals! Surprising!

As I was commenting on blogs this week, it struck me that since last year at this time I've gotten to know a whole lot of new people through ActiveRain, most of whom live in various parts of the country. Is that reducing my six degrees to five? Hmmm. Maybe.

Granted, I know some better than others. There's a tendency to comment on the blogs by certain people because you feel a "connection" to them. It could be their writing style or things that you discover about them through reading their blogs that attract you. Connections like this are an under-appreciated benefit of ActiveRain--especially by those just arriving on the scene.

I've been working at finding new bloggers, people who just started on ActiveRain. If you go to your Home page and look for the tab, "Find Blogs To Read"on the left hand side, you'll see the category, "First Blog Posts". It's exciting to read posts from people starting out on this great adventure. You might add them to the list of people you follow. As far as I know, there's no limit to the number of people you can follow!

I've also noticed an interesting thing AR is doing (and I suspect it is intentional), there are a lot of "new" folks being featured! I like that! Let's meet more individuals who have something worthwhile to say. One critical comment, it would be fabulous if AR could change the Featured Posts every day! That would be a wonderful improvement!

Are you expanding the number of your AR contacts? Are you seeking out AR members who are not part of your "regular" group? I'm not sure I've reduced my "six degrees of separation" to something less, but I know I'm enjoying the process of getting there.