Facebook has a new twist on a Hungarian author's theory known as "6 degrees of separation." It claims that everyone in the world would just need six introductions to meet every person on planet Earth. However, research by the world's largest social network has discovered that among its 1.59 billion active users there is only an average of 3.57 degrees of separation.

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The original theory was developed by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy. He wrote a short story in 1929 to consider that Earth was the tiniest it had ever been, according to The New York Times.

Facebook released the study's results on its blog on February 4, Thursday. Based on its findings the average degrees of separation are 3.57 or 4.57 depending on the how "degrees" is defined.

The social media giant shares that most of its users have degrees of separation between 2.9 and 4.2. CEO Mark Zuckerberg's number is 3.17 and the average figure among all of the company's  United States users is 3.46.

Facebook users who visit the blog post can see their personal degree of separation from all other Facebook users. The company uses statistical algorithms instead of trying to estimate how connected people's friends and relatives are.

In 2011 a similar study found that among Facebook users there were around 3.74 degrees of separation. The social network had around 721 million members. Since then the company's active user base has almost doubled, which has made its users about 5 percent more connected, according to Quartz.

The "six degrees of separation" theory was also the center of a 2014 game. It tested how close any celebrity was to actor Kevin Bacon on a cast list, to measure how much power they had in Hollywood.  

As more of the world's 7.4 billion people get Internet access and sign up for Facebook accounts, it is likely the degrees of separation will keep dropping.  

However, Gizmodo argues that Facebook's recent study is not valid. For example, the study's sample size is only about one-fifth of the world's population, and Facebook users already have many things in common such as free time and Internet access.

Here's an interview about "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon":