Writing a book in 2009 is a tricky thing to pull off. Never mind the research, the interviews, or the writing, but then you have to face facts: who reads in 2009? Unless you’re Dan Brown or Stephen King or Glenn Beck, odds are your book, no matter how thorough or well-written, isn’t exactly going to fly off the shelves. What will fly off the virtual shelves, though, is an iPhone App. You see where I’m headed. Adam Penenberg, who’s a contributing writer over at Fast Company magazine (and an old professor of mine from back in my NYU days), has developed an iPhone and Facebook App called “Viral Loop” to help raise awareness of his latest book, Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves. Let’s take a look.
The App, which is only in Facebook form right now (the iPhone App will be released within two weeks), basically tries to tell you how much your worth, socially. Let’s say Little Timmy has 100 friends on Facebook, who each have 100 friends of their own. Little Susie, on the other hand, has 150 friends, who each have 200 friends of their own. Timmy, though, uses Facebook all day long, while Susie only uses it sparingly. Viral Loop will take all that into account—number of friends, how “active” you are online, etc. then come up with a dollar amount. Bam! You’re worth $20, you’re worth $50, you’re worth $1,000, etc.
There’s even a leader-board to see who ranks where. Note that Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo is worth more than God himself. You would think that the being whose image we were all created in would be worth more than a professional footballer!
If all of this seems like a glorified popularity contest, well, isn’t that what all these sites are about? Who has more Facebook “friends,” I have more Twitter followers than you so I’m obviously better than you, etc.
As it turns out, I’m worth a whopping $94.60, which seems about right, both on Facebook and in real life. Sell me, and maybe you can buy a nice pair of jeans.
And as for the iPhone App, which, again, should be available to download in less than two weeks, it’ll be some sort of pseudo gambling game where you can spend your Viral Loop money on certain events. Will Twitter announce a business model by the end of 2010? (I’ll put $20 on that.) How many people will download Google Chrome OS during the first 24 hours of its release? That sort of thing.
You’ll remember that all of this is about a book. It represents the first time, to my knowledge, that an author has gone to such great lengths to promote his book using social media. The over-arching idea is, of course, once you get people hooked on this idea of viral loops and all that jazz, you’ll want to learn all you can about it, and buy the book.
The things you do to get people reading these days!
this is going to be fun experiment…..your social value on facebook…..off to fb now…. :P
okay….experiment done….i am at $105.76 value….
We already have such apps on Facebook that find out your social viability. But when it comes to popularising your book I do not think this app will help much. The first and foremost reason for your book to get a break through is the publisher.
At Walmart, you’re worth more than a pair of jeans
This is actually a really good idea. I already like the sound of the value system and would probably pick up a copy to check it out. I’m sure this isn’t the first time someone is using social media to push a book but this seems like the first time someone is doing this much to get their name out there. Plus if he’s writing for FastCompany, can’t they just plug him every here and there? http://ZiggyTek.com/
I cried a little when I read this.
I passed gas when I read it.
Seriously though. How many people are going to download google Chrome OS in the first 24 hours? How can anyone really know with torrent cloaking?
Well .. I dnt have much frnds on Facebook ,.. and neither very active … I ll be at loss .. I m going to be more active . add more frnds .. then i ll check out this app .. :P
Cheers,
Daina
No friends on facebook? Maybe you should change your profile picture to the one you are using here. LOL
$6.45
$6550.40
Now, how much are my recommendations worth to advertisers?
http://www.wahdang.com- THE INTERNETS FIRST BROWSING ENGINE
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/wahdang-com-a-browsing-engine-for-the-internet
Interesting concept, it’s too bad that the money you’re worth, isn’t real money – I like that you can spend your virtual money, maybe you should be able to trade it in towards prizes or gift cards or something.
Music, Movies, Games & More
interesting concept, it’s too bad the money you’re worth wasn’t real money, maybe they should let you use your money earned towards prizes or gift cards – that could be interesting
Music, Movies, Games & More
social media applications would enhance the interactivity of users and advertisers.
There is a Viral Business Model in it’s initial pre-launch phase being sponsored by a top Fortune 500, Dow Jones Company and it is happening right now. Watch the video then hit me up for more info.
http://www.blastoffprelaunch.com
http://www.tewelow.info
“Who buys books?”
As far as I can remember, this, despite being a blog, has certain journalistic standards. Statements like above sound like a brain fart. Idiots like you might not buy them anymore since you might consider reading EnGadget the equivalent of a Salman Rushdie novel, but trust me, billions around the world still read, and will continue to read.
Brilliant!!
People need to read more. Then they might realize that “tries to tell you how much your worth” should be “tries to tell you how much you’re worth”.
Is that a contest of being online all the time? isnt it a mess? You are selling your time to rate our self!
are we gonna get paid too?
“but then you have to face facts: who reads in 2009?”
You’re a fool. Lots of people read, and not just the latest Dan Brown.
Maybe you need reminding periodically that not everyone is frantically chasing after the next shiny new thing, and then the next, and the next.
This is a very interesting experiment. I wonder how the author will try to link content into these apps. It seems they are just somwhat unrelated (e.g., iPhone games).
Adam
http://cardrobot.com
The future of economics on the web is approaching. We will be one community. We will own our participation. Concept developers will leverage our value in creating the value of their concepts. We will translate the value of this web into real Terms that are universally distributable.
Our language is emerging.
Language precedes order.
Ordered intelligence is the future, and in that future the web ecosystem is owned at the entity level on universal Terms.
Viral indeed.
Oh, and btw… W2’s are a problem for society.
Interesting, in terms of attempting to ascribe a dollar value to someone’s web of social connections. However, in terms of promoting a brand and having fun, I’d point you to http://gleek.us the “Biggest Gleek” fan game which runs on a new social game system code-named “BrushFire” and developed by my company, Thingfo. This game is integrated across Facebook, Twitter and MySpace and instead of trying to tell people what they’re “worth”, we reward and promote the top evangelists for the show (and measure all that fan enthusiasm, too). Try it out, and give some kudos to the marketing and online teams at Fox.com — it’s not often that major media companies utilize new and innovative technologies. Then again, maybe that’s why they’re the #1 TV network and Glee is a breakout hit.
“Unless you’re Dan Brown or Stephen King or Glenn Beck, odds are your book, no matter how thorough or well-written, isn’t exactly going to fly off the shelves.”
That was some bull crap, man…
Um, excuse me?
“It represents the first time, to my knowledge, that an author has gone to such great lengths to promote his book using social media.”
Um, hello, Scott Sigler has gone MUCH farther using social media than this. Your knowledge is limited.
Interesting idea. This will probably get you a lot of iPhone app reviews but as far as book reviews, I’m not sure about that. Good luck though.