Speaking of social media, we cannot ignore the theory of "Six Degree of Separation", which is called the basis of social media theory. The essence of social media is to build an environment to create the adhesiveness between users. Discovering the theory of Six Degree of Separation would help us understand how the online adhesiveness between users is created.

Briefly, this theory introduces the phenomenon that you can build relationship with any stranger by six friends. Though this kind of relationship is difficult to build and to maintain in reality, it can be built easily online and is relatively more stable. It is because everyone has the same right in an online community, and online network relationships can break through the constraint of region and time.

1 Stranger = 6 Friends

According to Six Degrees of Separation, users could build relationships possibly with anyone online. Besides, the cost of online social communication is being continuously reduced nowadays. Therefore, the number “six” from the theory can even be decreased in the future.

"Adhesiveness of user" is another key term of social media. If a website wants to survive longer and to survive in a more dynamic way, it needs to build an environment which gives pleasant experience for users, and to use the environment to adhere users. Since the content of the environment is created by users themselves, if the platform/environment is good enough, users are actually attracting and motivating one another themselves.

Just like the saying "being a clock maker instead of a timer", the best adhesiveness is to provide the platform to make users provide adhesiveness for one another spontaneously. Once people have dependence for one another, their relationship is built on the basis of personal emotion. That basis is stable and long existing. Besides of creating and attracting information, users become builders of the website as well. Therefore, the website would enter a virtuous circle.