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Shared degrees of separation

Recently my friend Jeanna was in Austin, TX attending a conference for the Professional Association of Innkeepers International (she owns www.bbwhisperingpines.com).  While there she met a fellow named Tim. Somewhere in their conversation they started talking about beer.  Perhaps because Tim runs a successful beer blog.  

Jeanna, who was a host on my 50-state tour, mentioned that she knew a guy who was trying to have a beer with Richard Branson.  I can only imagine the "what-a-small-world look" that Tim made at that point when he said, "that guy e-mailed me!"

Small world.  Here's what happened...

A while back I was spending some time on Google looking for beer blogs.  Eventually it lead me to Here For The Beer, which is one of the best beer blogs I've seen, it's fantastic.  The blog is ran by Tim and Amy, who are also bed and breakfast owners in Vermont (www.fortyputneyroad.com).  

Coincidentally, they were going to the same conference as my friend Jeanna.

I contacted them both about the possibility of doing a blog post about Beer With Branson.  Turns out they now Tellman of Run Tellman Run.  It turns out that Tellman met Richard Branson a year ago...

Not bad for stumbling across a beer blog on Google.  If I consider Google as a degree of separation it comes to:  Google --> Here for the Beer --> Tellman --> Richard Branson.  That fits my model of the "Four degrees of Richard Branson" rather than the "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon".

To me at least, it's mind boggling to think that they met and made the connection that they both knew who I was.  

How often are we in social situations where we meet someone having no idea that we have shared connections and we only come to those if we touch the topic that connects the two, beer in this case.  Clearly things like Facebook have made this easier for us.  It's one tool that's extremely influential in making us closer to 3-4 degrees of separation versus six degrees.

At the end of the day it makes me think anyone can know Richard Branson, know someone who has met him, know someone who has worked for him, and the list goes on.  It's a matter of branding Beer With Branson and getting momentum behind it so that people like Jeanna or Tim will bring it up on conversation.