studioe9
Viral Loop Facebook App
( Take from StudioE9's Paul Johnson's Article "The Viral Loop Widget" in Publishers Weekly
Facebook may have 300 million users, but that doesn’t mean that these social digerati are easy to reach—which explains why advertising on the so-called social Web so far has largely been a dud. So when journalist Adam Penenberg approached StudioE9 to create an online marketing campaign for his new book, Viral Loop, we recognized a unique opportunity: we would design and implement a proof of concept for his book. In essence, set out to create a viral loop around Viral Loop.
We settled on a three-pronged approach involving a Facebook application (a widget), an iPhone app and a Web site. Taken together they create a powerful synergy, promoting Viral Loop across multiple platforms, yet they also function independently. The goal: to create multiple paths to learning about and hopefully buying the book. After all, every time a user sees or hears the words “viral loop,” we extend the brand. These three components take the idea a step further by having users spread it for us. To get it, you have to give. We knew we had to offer users something they would like so much they’d willingly share it with their friends. Then, our users would become de facto Viral Loop marketers.
Facebook Application
Our Viral Loop widget for Facebook takes advantage of the fact that users of social networks tend to be both committed participants and contributors: in other words, their interactions create value for the networks they use. If Facebook had only three million users, it wouldn’t have the stratospheric valuation it does with 300 million. Our widget determines how much a user is worth to Facebook by collecting data on how active users are, who their friends are, how much influence they have, how popular their profile page is—plus, how much Facebook is worth these days. At the time of this writing, a rough estimate put Facebook at a value of more than $6 billion.
When users launch the widget, they tap into a complex algorithm that crunches all the data. Once they learn their dollar value to Facebook, a message is posted to their newsfeed, which further markets the app. They can also find out what their friends are worth by inviting them to try it. The more friends they persuade, the more influence they have and the more they add to their own value. By placing a dollar value on social network activity, we offer incentives to users to raise their level of participation and, more to the point for us, spread the widget.
A real-time leader board published on the Fast Company Web site (fastcompany.com) tracks the dollar values of Facebook’s top 20 Web celebrities. Barack Obama, for example, can be worth up to $2 million to Facebook, beating out Ashton Kutcher, Roger Federer and God. Alongside that list run the top 20 Viral Loop widget users and their dollar values, comparing the values of Viral Loop application users with the most popular celebrities on Facebook.
iPhone App
We took Viral Loop to a mobile platform with the Viral Loop iPhone app. It’s a predictions market wrapped in a game. Those who download the app through their iPhones, iTunes store or from viralloop.com are awarded $500 in Viral Loop currency to “bet” on predictions based, in large part, on the book. A prediction might be “Google will buy Twitter by year’s end” or “Facebook will amass half a billion users by Jan. 1, 2010,” or “PayPal’s revenues will surpass eBay’s by July 2010.” The app tabulates each participant’s vote—either thumbs up or down. You can “short” a prediction like you would stock, too, and discussion boards at viralloop.com help users keep tabs on all the action.
The iPhone app also ties in with the widget. Users can transfer their Facebook dollar values to bet on predictions or buy the right to post their own prediction that other users can bet on. If a user runs out of currency, they can raise more by inducing others to download the widget or increasing their level of social network activity, or by buying the book through a special link at viralloop.com that leads to a major bookseller. They can then transfer that “money” to the iPhone app.
Viral Loop Web Site
A Web marketing plan exists at viralloop.com, which hosts Penenberg’s blog, a description of the book, reviews and links to booksellers, as well as exclusive q&as with people who appear in the book’s pages—including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe and tech icon Marc Andreessen. There are also pages devoted to the widget and iPhone apps with comment threads.
But it doesn’t stop there. On the home-page is a tree with several viral loop companies branching out, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, RockYou and Bebo. Click on Facebook and pictures of its three founders pop up. Hit edit and you can participate in a wiki to add your own information or provide links and commentary. The result is a constantly evolving site with the potential to become a valuable online resource. And like the widget and iPhone app, it depends on users to grow and spread.
Related Press:
Wall Street Journal "Digits": How Much Are You Worth to Facebook?"
blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/09/24/how-much-are-you-worth-to...
------
Crunchgear/Techcrunch (reposted on All Things Digital): "Using Facebook and the iPhone to Promote Something Called a Book."
www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/18/viral-loop-using-facebook-a...
------
Wall Street Journal "Deal Journal": "Valuing Web Media: For the Rest of Us, It’s Like Fantasy Football"
blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/09/18/valuing-web-media-for-the-...
-----
Mediaite: "Viral Loop: For Facebook, Michael Jackson Is More Valuable Than God"
www.mediaite.com/online/viral-loop-for-facebook-michael-j...
------
Mediaite: "What Portion of Facebook's Billions Are BEcause of You?"
www.mediaite.com/online/what-portion-of-facebooks-billion...
------
Fast Company Leader Board (lists the top 20 users of the Viral Loop widget and the top 20 celebrities on Facebook): www.fastcompany.com/blog/adam-penenberg/penenberg-post-0
------
Viral Loop excerpt in October's Fast Company magazine: www.fastcompany.com/magazine/139/loop-de-loop.html
------
My exclusive interview with Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg: www.fastcompany.com/blog/adam-penenberg/penenberg-post/fa...
------
www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/Seven-Smart-Books-The-B...
------
www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&a...
Viral Loop Facebook App
( Take from StudioE9's Paul Johnson's Article "The Viral Loop Widget" in Publishers Weekly
Facebook may have 300 million users, but that doesn’t mean that these social digerati are easy to reach—which explains why advertising on the so-called social Web so far has largely been a dud. So when journalist Adam Penenberg approached StudioE9 to create an online marketing campaign for his new book, Viral Loop, we recognized a unique opportunity: we would design and implement a proof of concept for his book. In essence, set out to create a viral loop around Viral Loop.
We settled on a three-pronged approach involving a Facebook application (a widget), an iPhone app and a Web site. Taken together they create a powerful synergy, promoting Viral Loop across multiple platforms, yet they also function independently. The goal: to create multiple paths to learning about and hopefully buying the book. After all, every time a user sees or hears the words “viral loop,” we extend the brand. These three components take the idea a step further by having users spread it for us. To get it, you have to give. We knew we had to offer users something they would like so much they’d willingly share it with their friends. Then, our users would become de facto Viral Loop marketers.
Facebook Application
Our Viral Loop widget for Facebook takes advantage of the fact that users of social networks tend to be both committed participants and contributors: in other words, their interactions create value for the networks they use. If Facebook had only three million users, it wouldn’t have the stratospheric valuation it does with 300 million. Our widget determines how much a user is worth to Facebook by collecting data on how active users are, who their friends are, how much influence they have, how popular their profile page is—plus, how much Facebook is worth these days. At the time of this writing, a rough estimate put Facebook at a value of more than $6 billion.
When users launch the widget, they tap into a complex algorithm that crunches all the data. Once they learn their dollar value to Facebook, a message is posted to their newsfeed, which further markets the app. They can also find out what their friends are worth by inviting them to try it. The more friends they persuade, the more influence they have and the more they add to their own value. By placing a dollar value on social network activity, we offer incentives to users to raise their level of participation and, more to the point for us, spread the widget.
A real-time leader board published on the Fast Company Web site (fastcompany.com) tracks the dollar values of Facebook’s top 20 Web celebrities. Barack Obama, for example, can be worth up to $2 million to Facebook, beating out Ashton Kutcher, Roger Federer and God. Alongside that list run the top 20 Viral Loop widget users and their dollar values, comparing the values of Viral Loop application users with the most popular celebrities on Facebook.
iPhone App
We took Viral Loop to a mobile platform with the Viral Loop iPhone app. It’s a predictions market wrapped in a game. Those who download the app through their iPhones, iTunes store or from viralloop.com are awarded $500 in Viral Loop currency to “bet” on predictions based, in large part, on the book. A prediction might be “Google will buy Twitter by year’s end” or “Facebook will amass half a billion users by Jan. 1, 2010,” or “PayPal’s revenues will surpass eBay’s by July 2010.” The app tabulates each participant’s vote—either thumbs up or down. You can “short” a prediction like you would stock, too, and discussion boards at viralloop.com help users keep tabs on all the action.
The iPhone app also ties in with the widget. Users can transfer their Facebook dollar values to bet on predictions or buy the right to post their own prediction that other users can bet on. If a user runs out of currency, they can raise more by inducing others to download the widget or increasing their level of social network activity, or by buying the book through a special link at viralloop.com that leads to a major bookseller. They can then transfer that “money” to the iPhone app.
Viral Loop Web Site
A Web marketing plan exists at viralloop.com, which hosts Penenberg’s blog, a description of the book, reviews and links to booksellers, as well as exclusive q&as with people who appear in the book’s pages—including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe and tech icon Marc Andreessen. There are also pages devoted to the widget and iPhone apps with comment threads.
But it doesn’t stop there. On the home-page is a tree with several viral loop companies branching out, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, RockYou and Bebo. Click on Facebook and pictures of its three founders pop up. Hit edit and you can participate in a wiki to add your own information or provide links and commentary. The result is a constantly evolving site with the potential to become a valuable online resource. And like the widget and iPhone app, it depends on users to grow and spread.
Related Press:
Wall Street Journal "Digits": How Much Are You Worth to Facebook?"
blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/09/24/how-much-are-you-worth-to...
------
Crunchgear/Techcrunch (reposted on All Things Digital): "Using Facebook and the iPhone to Promote Something Called a Book."
www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/18/viral-loop-using-facebook-a...
------
Wall Street Journal "Deal Journal": "Valuing Web Media: For the Rest of Us, It’s Like Fantasy Football"
blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/09/18/valuing-web-media-for-the-...
-----
Mediaite: "Viral Loop: For Facebook, Michael Jackson Is More Valuable Than God"
www.mediaite.com/online/viral-loop-for-facebook-michael-j...
------
Mediaite: "What Portion of Facebook's Billions Are BEcause of You?"
www.mediaite.com/online/what-portion-of-facebooks-billion...
------
Fast Company Leader Board (lists the top 20 users of the Viral Loop widget and the top 20 celebrities on Facebook): www.fastcompany.com/blog/adam-penenberg/penenberg-post-0
------
Viral Loop excerpt in October's Fast Company magazine: www.fastcompany.com/magazine/139/loop-de-loop.html
------
My exclusive interview with Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg: www.fastcompany.com/blog/adam-penenberg/penenberg-post/fa...
------
www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/Seven-Smart-Books-The-B...
------
www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&a...