Both in class and the readings for class “Viral Marketing” has come up over and over again as a powerful tool to reach people.
But…just how powerful is it?
Well, Eyebeam, a ‘non-profit center for art and technology’ decided to find out. They organized the “Contagious Media Showdown” in which contestants were given a month to see how many people they could attract to their site using viral marketing.
But of course, there were rules. The contestants had to host the site on Eyebeam’s server and it had to be original work - no hired hands. They couldn’t use ads, bots, or scams to attract viewers and all stats were available to the public at any time.
Basically, only if your site was really great would people want to forward it on to their friends and their friends and their friends…
The results:
Hits: 52,445,703
Page Views: 6,027,549
Unique IP’s: 1,560,435
Bandwidth: 4.15 TeraBytes
The Top 3 Sites:
#1 - ‘Forget Me Not Panties” with 615,562 unique visitors.
help you protect what matters most.”
#2 - ‘Crying While Eating” with 386,638 unique visitors.
Why are you crying?”
#3 - ‘Blogebrity’ with 115,475 unique visitory.
talked about bloggers?”
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Hey bud, thanks for the comment! No need to be jealous of me living in Hawai’i. =) Hawai’i isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be… I sincerely believe that Hawai’i was built for couples.. not the hopeless romantic singles hehehe… of which I am part of that severe minority ;).
Anyway, I can’t stay long.. I have to get my ass to bed for work tomorrow morning, but just wanted to say hi ;).
If those numbers weren’t enough, I can attest to having received two of those three sites from friends’ websites and e-mail.
The Crying While Eating site, in particular, has earned its viral success. My personal favorite: Daniel, who’s eating buckwheat noodles and rooster sauce and crying because he’s ruined Passover.
Oh, and on another note, I don’t buy the GPS underwear because I’m a perverted, privacy-invading psycho. I buy them for the ol’ lady because she says they’re more comfortable.
To summarize, crude or otherwise wacky humor is a surefire way to become a viral success. Now, how do you parlay that into a race for Ohio Supreme Court.