- Social Interests -

buddyBridge - the site

How does it promote itself?
This new networking site claims that it is “quickly becoming the #1 rated friends site.” The site is built upon the Friendster model and has very simple, clean interfaces with all of the database features, which store information like birthdate and interests for others to peruse. Similar to the other sites, this site also allows one to establish acquaintanceship chains with other users and to invite one’s friends.

When was it founded?
It was founded in Yorba Linda, California and is obviously new, as some of the features are still under construction. The Privacy Policy was created in July, 2003.

What does it offer?
The features are quite standard and much the same as Friendster, except for a hybrid blog feature in which groups and individuals within groups can communicate with one another on a daily basis with both pictures and text in a journal format. There is also a visual feature that maps one’s acquaintanceship chains geographically.

Is it free to participate?
This site offers free membership and no mention is made of premium pay access.

Chiafriend - the site

How does it promote itself?
The language on the first page of this site utilizes the language of the small world theory. It proclaims: “Chiafriend is an online community designed to connect people through an intricate network of friends. Create your own private community and watch it grow. You can interact with people who are connected with you through networks of mutual friends. It’s simple, fun and free!” One thing that is immediately apparent about the site is that some of its pages are poorly designed in that they are just not pleasing to the eye, some of its links do not work and the views we get of form interfaces suggest that they, too, are relatively poorly-designed. There is also a section of the site specifically devoted to its efforts to market itself with apparel featuring the site’s logo.

When was it founded?
The site is operated by Chiafriend, LLC, a “privately-held corporation headquartered in southern California.” It was founded in 2003.

What does it offer?
There is a link to a portion of the site that serves as a tour, but the link is non-functional. The site makes no claims to offering anything that would make it unique from the other sites listed here, but it does package one common feature- the level of access feature- in an interesting way. At sign-up, one can choose to be either a “Chiabuddy,” and so have one’s profile freely accessible to anyone on the site, or a “Chiabouncer,” which allows only a pre-determined group to have access to one’s profile. There are interesting graphical characters assigned depending on which option is selected.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free membership. The following was taken from the site’s Help page: “The service you sign up for will be a subscription service. Our primary means of depriving [sic.] revenue is through the creation of business partnerships and delivering future premium services.”

enCentra - the site

How does it promote itself?
The site has the subtitle, “The Networking Revolution.” The following language is taken from the site’s tour page:
enCentra is the new, easy way to meet people. enCentra is an online social networking community that connects people through networks of friends. This means that you are connected to your friends, your friends' friends, your friends friends friends, and so on. With enCentra you are always able to see the connection between you and another person. This element of trust allows you to feel more comfortable and secure when meeting new people. Keep in contact with your friends and family, keep members of your organization updated and/or expand your customer base.
It is essentially a repeat of most of the other sites, offering many of the same features, but with some interesting graphical design elements to attract the eye.

When was it founded?
The site was created in 2003 and is operated by a company called Matrilogic Technologies, Inc.

What does it offer?
Nothing particularly innovative or unique is offered to distinguish this from the other sites. The site allows you to establish friend connections, leave and receive testimonials for/from friends, search profiles of other individual members for common interests, create an “interest group” centered around a common object like a favorite movie or musical group and serve as moderator and a blog feature with which to maintain an online journal and post comments in friends’ journals. One relatively unique feature for as site such as this is a URL storage area, in which you can store your bookmarks online for remote access or when not using your own computer.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free membership.

Everyone’s Connected - the site

How does it promote itself?
This site promotes itself specifically with language and imagery designed to suggest the small world problem. On the home page, there is a graphical diagram connecting two people in separate locations through a string of random acquaintances. The following was taken directly from the site:
Everyone's Connected allows you to do online what you already do in real life - meet people through friends you already know whether to date or just have fun. Because each new member has to be validated by a friend to join, it creates a safer environment to meet genuine people and see who you really are connected to.
The site is well-designed graphically, and the menus and interfaces are easy to maneuver through.

When was it founded?
This information is not provided on the public portions of the site.

What does it offer?
This site contains that standard features of the genre, but also has several innovative features, including headings like “Embarrassing Stories” under which one can place personal information, a visual “who-knows-who” network page in which you can view the friends of everyone who is connected with you, customizable newspapers provided by the service with space for comments and annotations from group members, a specialized area designed for dating and a feature which allows one to observe who has viewed one’s profile and personal information.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free membership, but requires that all new members be “validated” by a friend- another individual who is already a member of the service. Everyone’s Connected claims that this makes the site safer.

Friend Surfer - the site

How does it promote itself?
The subtitle of this service is “Find Friends Online.” On one of the interior tour pages, we find the following:

Personal Friends Matrix: FriendSurfer provides a social networking model based on the six degrees of seperation theory. This means that you are connected to your friends, your friends friends, your friends friends friends, and so on. Your friends matrix is made up of the people you directly or indirectly connected to. You can write testimonials about your friends, add and delete friends, bookmark interesting people, and much more.

When was it founded?
Friendsurfer, like so many of the other sites, dates back to 2003. It is operated by a company called CashSurfers, founded in 1999, which claims to provide money for the viewing of advertisements on webpages.

What does it offer?
The standard fare is on offer, along with the blog feature that is obviously designed to look and feel very much like Livejournal. Members’ profiles can be browsed without becoming a member, as can the blogs themselves. This site is rather overtly geared toward dating as well. There is a “Rate This Picture” feature as well as a classified section.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free membership.

Friendster - the site

How does it promote itself?
This is the site that started it all, the online virtual community site that spawned countless imitators and clones. The site claims to enable you to “Create your own personal and private community, where you can interact with people who are connected to you through networks of mutual friends. It's easy and fun.” Friendsteris not only one of the oldest of these sites, it is without question the most well-designed and easiest to use. The tutorial is very easy to following, the menus and forms are simple and the interface with the user is very pleasing to the eye. Also, it goes without saying that if the goal of such a site is the establishment of large social networks, Friendster, containing, as it does, the largest pool of participants of any of these sites, and having the most name recognition, is going to also have greatest potential for the showcasing the small world phenomenon by allowing you to connect with the largest number of individuals.

When was it founded?
Friendster is operated by Friendster, Inc., based in Silicon Valley. It was founded in 2002 by Jonathon Abrams, who now serves as its CEO.

What does it offer?
Friendster offers the largest pool of participants of any of these sites and is the most widely-known of the sites. It established the benchmark for what sites like this offer- a visual network component, friend invitations, testimonials, messaging features and searchable/browsable interest lists. The site is currently being updated, but there is currently no indication of what features will be offered on the updated version.

Is it free to participate?
Friendster is currently being updated and offers free membership for a limited time. When the new version comes online, the basic site will remain free, but will also have premium features for which it will charge a fee.

Friendzy - the site

How does it promote itself?
Frendzy packages itself as a social networking site built upon the principles of the small world phenomenon.
Imagine for a moment…you invite all of your friends into one gigantic room. Then all your friends invited all their friends into this same gigantic room, and all of your friends' friends invited all their friends into this same gigantic room, and so on. How many people would be in this room?
As with the site “Everyone’s Connected,” this site also includes a graphical diagram on its home page illustrating the fact that it is born out of the small world phenomenon.

When was it founded?
Frendzy was founded in 2003 and is, unusually, located in Dallas, Texas. It appears to be more of a homegrown as opposed to a corporate effort, as feedback on the site is greatly encouraged, and there is a substantial list of “Frendzy helpers” who are thanked on the “About Frendzy” page of the site.

What does it offer?
The site offers social networking message boards and groups and a blog feature. It also allows user to construct their own self-designed “Friendzine” listing pre-selected information, pictures and messages from their friends:
Extra, Extra, Read all about it. Take thought provoking new polls about fashion, politics and things like, ‘which way do you hang your toilet paper?’ Read stories about people's most exciting adventures and most embarrassing experiences.
The site also offers a rudimentary attempt at a “Classifieds” section, in which members can post ads for jobs and items for sale, sorted by city, for other members to browse.

Is it free to participate?
This site offers free membership.

Hi5 - the site

How does it promote itself?
Hi5, one of the newer sites on our list, markets itself on the notion that it does not specialize in anything; to wit:
hi5 is an online environment for meeting new people, connecting with friends, and sharing ideas. We noticed that online services have become overly specialized. For example, many services focus on a singular purpose such as dating, connecting classmates, or organizing by interest groups. But, people are social beings and don’t like being forced into separate buckets for different things. So hi5 has understood that need and taken a more broad approach, we want to make the Internet more comfortable and enjoyable for everyone. For a hi5 member, purpose can evolve over time and expand in unexpected directions – from reconnecting with old friends, just casually meeting new friends, or to finding someone that you might want to date.
Obviously, it is drawing the inspiration for such language on the idea of user-created environments. Unlike some of the other sites, here is no specific language referring to the small world phenomenon, but in one of the interior pages, there is a diagram of linked photographs suggesting the idea of an interconnected network of individuals.

When was it founded?
The site does not offer any indication of when or by whom it was created beyond a 2004 copyright date.

What does it offer?
As the promotional materials associated with the site would suggest, there is nothing particularly innovative being offered by this site. It has well designed user interfaces and attractive pages, but beyond that, there is nothing to favor it over any of the other sites. As stated above, this is one of the newer sites on our list.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free membership.

Huminity - the site

“Huminity is a free social networking software that allows you to chat with anyone, navigate animated maps of connections and view the links of friends between you and anyone else”

How does it promote itself?
According to the creators, it is designed to offer a hybrid service combining features of social networking and instant-message chat. From the creator’s own statement: “We believe the Internet’s greatness is the interaction it brings between people and we hope that Huminity will take this one step further, and through combining Instant Messaging with Social Networks open a whole range of possibilities to enrich everyone’s life. Huminity is built to facilitate friendship, make it easy for people to find and make friends, find jobs faster make better deals and to reach anyone in the world. Above all - to have fun!”

When was it founded?
This is not indicated.

What does it offer?
Huminity’s software supports Unicode and allows for the use of any foreign language. It requires one to download free instant message software which interfaces with the online components of the service, including the virtual community map. This software, working in much the same way as AOL Instant Messenger, allows one to see when a friend is online and to chat and create chat rooms. The site offer very good help and tutorial sections.

Is it free to participate?
The required software is free and participation in the service is free.

Orkut - the site

How does it promote itself?
Orkut claims affiliation with Google. Interestingly, it is the least self-promotional on our list. There is actually very little information on the public pages about what the site offers. The following was pulled from the “About Orkut” page:

Orkut is an online community website designed for friends. The main goal of our service is to make your social life, and that of your friends, more active and stimulating. Orkut's social network can help you both maintain existing relationships and establish new ones by reaching out to people you've never met before. Who you interact with is entirely up to you. Before getting to know an Orkut member, you can even see how they're connecting to you through the friends network.

The site is thus unusual for the fact that it keeps a low profile.

When was it founded?
This is not indicated.

What does it offer?
There is no indication of what features are offered.

Is it free to participate?
Membership is free, but is invitation-only. One must know someone who is already a member and receive an invitation from that person in order to join.

My space - the site

How does it promote itself?
Myspace is another one of the larger and older social networking services on the Internet, following immediately, as it did, in the wake of the upsurge in popularity in Friendster. The following language is pulled from the website tour:
Use MySpace to meet new friends, meet a new person and perhaps spark love interest, inform your circle of friends with info on current events, or start an organization or group with people that share the same ideas as yourself. The possibilities are endless and MySpace is a great tool to have.
The site has some of the most thoughtfully-designed interfaces of all of the social networking sites. Again, there is no specific mention of the small world phenomenon on the site. One interesting note: there are pictures on an interior page of the site of promotional parties which were given in several cities in late 2002/early 2003 when the site was initially created.

When was it founded?
Myspace dates back to late 2002, following immediately in the wake of the upsurge in popularity of Friendster.

What does it offer?
The site offers the standard fare of most of the other networking sites, including photo sharing, a blog feature, interest sharing/searching and friends lists.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free membership.

PalJunction - the site

How does it promote itself?
This is another one of the older, more established sites on our list. The opening page of the site has a graphically representation of an individual in a “social web”- very reminiscent of the diagrams in Milgram’s 1967 article on the small world problem. There is a small box of members’ testimonials on the page with the following “comments:”
An awesome site to keep up with your pals
I’ve already hired two reliable employees for my company.
I can't believe I ran into my old pals
I am having a wonderful time meeting new ladies every week ;-)
The site claims to have signed up its 150,000th member in September, 2003.

When was it founded?
Pa;junction was founded in 2002, making it one of the older sites on our list; it is operated by Paljunction, Inc.

What does it offer?
The basic social networking services are on offer, with the emphasis here being on the invitation of friends. There is, in fact, a separate entry portal to the site for individuals who have received invitations.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free memberships.

Peepsnation - the site

How does it promote itself?
This site couches its networking services in comparatively technical language, as with the following, which comes from the “How it works” page:
Peepsation enables users to connect with others with a similar interest that meet your filter criteria using user-definable groups tied to a specific location.
So let's talk about how it works. From the diagram above, you can see a set of concentric circles of groups (remember your geometry class?). The largest circle is "groups around here" and contains the list of all the groups that currently exist in your location, which is determined by your Zip Code or city name as defined in your peeps filter. This is the place where you look for and join up with groups that you are interested in.

This listing changes dynamically each time a user creates a new group (group added), or the last person in a particular group leaves that group (group deleted). Such is the natural life cycle of a group. As long as there is at least one member in a group, that group will live on.
The diagram illustrating the small world principles on which the site is based is a series of circles of increasing circumference extending out from an individual.

When was it founded?
There is no indication of date, but the site was created by a wireless company named Trilibis, based in San Diego.

What does it offer?
Having been created by a wireless company, Peepsnation wishes to emphasize and innovate features related to cellular phones. It offers telephone login and encourages one to sign up for membership using a cellular phone. The “What’s Coming” page mentions an automatic phone location feature which is being added; the feature is couched in the following language, taken directly from the site:
Imagine that while you are attending a large gathering, you find a potential peep (another user) is only 25 feet away from you. You look up their profile/picture, and they turn out to be a total hottie, so you call them (or send them a text message)…and you both live happily ever after.

Is it free to participate?
The site offers free membership; the cellular features are available to users of certain wireless plans.

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- Business Networking -

ItsNotWhatYouKnow - the site

How does it promote itself?
“ItsNotWhatYouKnow, or INWYK for short, allows you to visually see how you know others. . . .Through INWYK and the Internet, networking can now happen 24/7, even while you sleep.”

This site promotes itself as a business networking tool and it offers many explanations and examples of how the service will be beneficial for members’ careers. It also lists some of the companies that have members that use the website.

When was it founded?
Launched in May 2003 It’s Not Who You Know or INWYK (pronounced “In-Week”) is based in Indianapolis, IN.

What does it offer?
The format is basically the same as for the social sites, with profiles that show your picture and what you do, your skills and interests. The site provides a visual display of how you are connected to others in your network. There are also tools that help you organize your network, search the site’s database of members, and send messages to the right people.

Is it free to participate?
There are several levels of membership: a free service, a Basic membership that costs three dollars a month and a Silver membership for four dollars a month. There are also discounts for groups of more than ten members.

LinkedIn - the site

How does it promote itself?
This site emphasizes it’s press coverage. There are links on the front page to articles from The Chicago Tribune, PC World and others. The site has a clean look, but it does not present a lot of information about the site or service.

This site is different from others in that your requests and messages to people with whom you are connected but do not know personally are passed along through the chain instead of directly, and there are no photos as part of the profiles. There is a feature that allows you to compare your Outlook address book to the list of members and make those connections automatically. The process of connecting thorough the network is closer to the Milgram’s experiment.

When was it founded?
LinkedIn was started By Reid Hoffman, a former executive of PayPal and is bases in Mountain View California. The site is copyrighted 2003-2004

Is it free to participate?
The site is now in a beta stage and is free. In the future maintaining a profile will be free, and there will be a subscription fee for “users who initiate successful contacts” (LinkedIn customer service page).

RealContacts - the site

How does it promote itself?
The following is from the website:
“Real Contacts helps you to find staff or jobs through your extended network of contacts.”
The site features a diagram showing how people are connected through networks. There is also a page that explains the Small World Theory and how Real Contacts works with that theory. http://jobs.realcontacts.com/science.asp

When was it founded?
The company behind Real Networks began a dating beta service in 2001, and Rea Contacts was launched in May of 2002 as a commercial service. They are based in Christchurch, New Zealand and Miami, Florida.

What does it offer?
Real Contacts is focused on helping employers find staff and jobseekers to find jobs. To use the service an employer who wants to advertise a position, posts a job add and then emails it to her contacts and that email is also sent to their contacts. Jobseekers fill out a form that indicates their job interests. The Real Contacts service sends the announcements only to the people who have expressed interest in that type of message. The site has plans to expand the service to allowing networks share advice and find contacts for collaboration and cooperative projects.

Is it free to participate?
There is a service charge for employers who successfully hire someone using Real Contacts.

ReferNet - the site

How does it promote itself?
ReferNet emphasizes trust as an important part of making business connections. One of the testimonials on the site says,
“As a co-founder of a biotech startup, I joined ReferNet because I believe that the most valuable new business contacts come through referrals from people I already know and trust.” The site lists its members’ professions as: lawyers, real estate professionals, doctors, entrepreneurs, accountants and others.

When was it founded?
ReferNet was started in June 2003 and is based in Sunnyvale, California.

What does it offer?
Like the other sites, ReferNet provides tools that allow you to see who you are connected to and how many people are in your network. This site also has public and privates message boards and allows users to schedule events where users can meet in person.

Is it free to participate?
It is free to be a member and there is no mention of paid features.

Spoke Software - the site

How does it promote itself?
At this time Spoke is promoted as a service for sales and deal making teams in companies. The site offers a lot of information about the company and the products it offers and a flash video introduction to the service.
Here is one statement from the “About us” company page, “Of the number of emerging companies in the social networking space, only Spoke is focused on increasing enterprise revenue and committed to providing users maximum privacy and control.”
When was it founded?
Spoke Software, Inc. was founded in 2002

What does it offer?
Spoke software offers two products. Spoke Showcase is a free service that analyzes an individual’s business network through email. Spoke also offers services to large companies, small businesses and associations that help them make the most of their existing connections. Users of the services download an application that connects to the user’s email. The service allows you to see a map of your connections and analyzes the strength of individual relationships. Privacy is protected because when a new connection is made only the identities of the contacts in the middle of the chain are kept confidential.

Is it free to participate?
The service for individuals is free. There is a fee for the larger company level services, but the website does not give specific information on pricing.

ZeroDegrees - the site

How does it promote itself?
In its explanation of the service ZeroDegrees describes Stanley Milgram’s six degrees of separation experiment and theory. The site also named the visual image that shows you how you are connected to someone in your network the “Milgram Chain”.

It presents itself as a service for any type of business or individuals and offers services for individuals as well as products that can be used by an entire organization and incorporated into existing applications.

When was it founded?
The website was copyrighted in 2004 by ZeroDegrees, Inc.

What does it offer?
The service is similar to others. You can upload your existing contacts from Outlook mail or other email clients, and invite your contacts to join. You can also choose what level of closeness to place each of your contacts. You can then search your network for people in specific companies or positions. Members also have control over making their identity public or confidential.

Is it free to participate?
It is currently in a beta phase and is free. In the future there will be a subscription fee of around ten dollars per month.

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- Special Interest -

Dogster - the site

How does it promote itself?
Quotes from the site:
“Welcome to Dogster, where every dog has a webpage!”
“We are dog freaks and computer geeks, unafraid to admit that when we see a dog, any dog, our heads turn and we howl with delight.”
Need we say more?

When was it founded?
Dogster was launched January 2004
Created by Ted Rheingold of One Match Fire.

What does it offer?
Dogster is a site for people who own dogs and anyone who loves dogs. Members can make a profiles for their dogs, and then like Friendster, they can connect their dog’s profile with other dogs they know, these are called “pup pals”.

There is also a newsletter with advice about owning dogs, a featured dog of the day and a dog of the week.

Is it free to participate?
These sites are free.

Hampsterster - the site

WorldShine - the site

How does it promote itself?
Quote from the WorldShine site:
“Think of it as a dating site, merged intelligently with a self built travel guide all within six degrees of separation.”
This site has beautiful pictures from exotic places all around world, however some parts of the website, such as the tour, did not work. Details about piercing and tattoos seem to be an important part of the personal profiles.
When was it founded?
The “about” page explains that the site was started by a group of friends living in different places around the world. There was no start-up date listed, but the terms of use page was last updated in May 2003.
What does it offer?
This is a dating/social/ travel site. There are profiles of people and places, and it claims that all members were invited by existing members. Members as well as non-members can search for people or locations. From a member profiles you can see the travel destinations they recommend, or from a search on a place you can connect to the profiles of people who have been there.

Is it free to participate?
The terms of use page says that there are free and paid features for full-members, but it’s not clear what those features are.

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- Social Networking Search Engines -

Dude check this out! - the site

How does it promote itself?
The site emphasizes connecting with other people through common interests instead of through only common friends. The website says, “The Dude is the world's first application to combine blogging and social software. We like to call it social networking with a purpose, because item suggestions are connected to a profile, so as you discover new information, you can also connect with new people.”

When was it founded?
Dude Check This Out!, Beta 2.0 was released in January 2004. A press release refers to the four founders as Business Dude, Developer Dude, Research Dude and Ninja Dude. Dude Research, Inc. is located in Toronto, Canada.

What does it offer?
To use “the Dude”, you have to download a toolbar, called “the sushibar”. When you search the web and find something interesting you can “dude it” and create a blog posting about it on your Dude blog. The site also allows you to put other people who use the site on your contact list. Your contacts can then send you suggested items and you can send your suggestions to them. Users can also view their connections to other users.

Is it free to participate?
It is free to download the toolbar and there is nothing on the site about future costs.

Eurekster! - the site

How does it promote itself?
The web site is very simple and plain. It claims to be a unique service. The page says,
“Eurekster is the only search engine with personalized results.”

When was it founded?
The site was launched in January 2004. Eurekster, Inc. has offices in San Francisco and New Zealand. The technology behind Eurekster was developed by SLI Systems, Ltd. and Real Contacts Ltd.

What does it offer?
Users download a tool bar and use the Eurekster search engine. Eurekster remembers the sites you find useful (this is determined by staying on a page for at least a minute) and the next time you conduct the same search the sites you visited before will appear at the top of the list. When you invite friend to be a part of your Eurekster network their preferred sites will rise to the top of your results list and be marked with an icon. A side bar on your personal page shows your friends’ recent searches and sites they have visited recently.

Is it free to participate?
Eurekster is free and there is no mention of future fees.

Stumbleupon - the site

How does it promote itself?
This website emphasizes its “word-of –mouth approach to websurfing”, and the site uses testimonials to promote its service. This quote is from the StumbleUpon site, “I’m hooked on the thing and rate it as the second most useful web browsing tool after Google itself” –PcPro

When was it founded?
StumbleUpon was founded in April 2002 and is based in Canada.

What does it offer?
StumbleUpon uses a toolbar that is installed in your browser. You can rate any site on the web by clicking the “I like it” or “not for me “button on the toolbar. To “stumble” through the web you select one of your interests and click the “Stumble” button. Then you will be able to view sites that were highly rated by other members. The social network component is that you can invite your friends to join and be on your friends list. You are then able to share sites that the others have found and rated. StumbleUpon also allows users to make comments about websites and view the profile of the user who first rated any particular site.

Is it free to participate?
StumbleUpon is free, but additional features are available for a donation of ten or more dollars. Additional features include the ability to turn off sponsored links, an icon that indicates your support of the site, larger images for your profile, fourteen extra profile colors etc.

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- Social Networking Research Sites -

Small World Project - the site

How does it promote itself?
This is the homepage for the Small World Project at Columbia University. The website is attractive and well designed.

When was it founded?
The results of the first experiment conducted by Duncan J. Watts, Peter Dodds and Roby Muhamad were published in August 2003.

What does it offer?
The Columbia Small World Project is conducting a study to repeat and enlarge the experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in 1967.
The website states, “In this project, we intend to perform the first large scale, global verification of the small world hypothesis, using the modern Email equivalent of Milgram's passport innovation. We hope to test not only average properties of lengths of acquaintance chains, but also the distribution of lengths, along with the effect of race, class, nationality, occupation, and education.”
Anyone can sign-up, start a chain and be a part of the research. The site also provides links to articles and other sites about the “six degrees of separation” theory.

Oracle of Kevin Bacon - the site

How does it promote itself?
The Oracle of Kevin Bacon is a site on the website of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia.

When was it founded?
This site was started by Brett Tjaden and Glenn Wasson in 1996 when they were students at the University of Virginia.

What does it offer?
In addition to the Oracle of Bacon, you can also try a game in which you enter any two actors or actresses and it will tell you how they are linked. Other games on the site include the Arnie Game, the Elvis Game and a link to the Oracle of Baseball.
The site gives information about the algorithms behind the game and where to find more information about the science.

The Erdös Number Project - the site

How does it promote itself?
This website devoted to studying the connections between and collaboration among mathematicians. It collects data to calculate Erdös numbers, the mathematicians’ equivalent of Bacon numbers.

When was it founded?
PaulThe Erdös Project website is maintained by Jerry Grossman of Oakland University. The fist set of Erdös numbers were presented in May 1995.

What does it offer?
The site gives instructions for finding your own Erdös number, mathematicians aren’t the only one’s who have them. It provides information about the issues relating to collecting the numbers and collaboration. There are also links to sites that discuss similar subjects.

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