More like, Microsoft determined that people who chat actively on MSN messenger are linked by 6.6 degrees of separation. It's just not as interesting a story with those pesky details added in, is it?
The reference for the article gives 404 and physorg doesn't seem to have an article covering the subject. Heres the original paper: <a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/horvitz/leskovec_horvitz_www2008.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/horvitz/leskov...</a>