Viral growth trumps lots of faux followers
Many brands and idea promoters are in a hurry to rack up as many Facebook fans and Twitter followers as they possibly can. Hundreds of thousands if possible.
A lot of these fans and followers are faux. Sunny day friends. In one experiment I did, 200,000 followers led to 25 clickthroughs. Ouch.
Check out the graph on the left. The curves represent different ideas and different starting points. If you start with 10,000 fans and have an idea that on average nets .8 new people per generation, that means that 10,000 people will pass it on to 8000 people, and then 6400 people, etc. That’s yellow on the graph. Pretty soon, it dies out.
On the other hand, if you start with 100 people (99% less!) and the idea is twice as good (1.5 net passalong) it doesn’t take long before you overtake the other plan. (the green). That’s not even including the compounding of new people getting you people.
But wait! If your idea is just a little more viral, a 1.7 passalong, wow, huge results. Infinity, here we come. That’s the purple (of course.)
A slightly better idea defeats a much bigger but disconnected user base every time.
The lesson: spend your time coming up with better ideas, not with more (faux) followers.
LINK TO GRAPH: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/02/viral-growth-trumps-lots-of-faux-followers.html
I am so pleased the Hurt Locker won best Picture. It was such a well made film that kept you thinking well after the credits rolled.
“O” Fries - YUMMMMMMM!!!
MMJ performing “Gideon” with the Boston Pops on Letterman last year. I just found this on you tube and after seeing the Pops perform during the 4th of July Fireworks last night I thought it was appropriate to post.
Nothing says welcome to Pittsburgh better than being greeted by a statue of Franco Harris and his “Immaculate Reception”
I WILL SEE YOU FRIDAY AT RADIO CITY!!!
SETLIST (via mymorningjacket.com)
01 “Evil Urges”
02 “Off The Record”
03 “Gideon”
04 “Hot Fun In The Summertime” (Sly & the Family Stone) *
05 “Highly Suspicious”
06 “What A Wonderful Man”
07 “I’m Amazed”
08 “Thank You Too”
09 “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 1”
10 “Sec Walkin”
11 “Golden”
12 “Two Halves”
13 “Lay Low”
14 “Hit It and Quit It” (Funkadelic)
15 “Tyrone” (Erykah Badu)
16 “Steam Engine” —>drum solo
17 “Anytime”
18 “Aluminum Park”
19 “Easy Morning Rebel” *
20 “Dancefloors” *
21 “One Big Holiday” (w/ Kirk Hammett)
——
22 “Cold Sweat” (James Brown) *
23 “Get Down On It” (Kool & the Gang) *
24 “Across 110th Street” (Bobby Womack) *
25 “Wordless Chorus”
26 “Phone Went West”
27 “Mahgeetah”
28 “Oh Sweet Nuthin” (The Velvet Underground)
29 “Librarian”
30 “Bermuda Highway” (Jim James solo)
31 “Dondante”
32 “Run Thru”
33 “Smokin From Shootin”
34 “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 2”
35 “Home Sweet Home (Feat. Zach Galifianaks as Little Orphan Annie) (Mötley Crüe)
* w/Jeff Coffin on saxophone and the Nashville/Louisville Horns
From the Tom Sachs Hello Kitty Bronze Collection on display at the Lever House
I got into a bit of trouble for taking this photo at the Cai Guo-Qiang Exhibition at the Guggenheim last month. There is a great story behind this piece that some people refer to as 3,000 Arrows.
The proper name is Borrow Your Enemy’s Arrow and it tells the story of how one general sent his fleet, full of hundreds of soldiers made of grass, standing on the deck, to attack its enemy during a foggy night. To repel the offensive, the enemy shot thousands of arrows at the fake soldiers, therefore allowing the general to collect the precious weapons.
