[…] The spread of Microsoft?s Hotmail is one of the most oft-cited examples of intentional, commercial viral marketing. New internet users needed a free and easy way to use email, with very little commitment, Hotmail provided exactly that. And as people used Hotmail to send emails, a little signature line was attached with a link to join Hotmail. I believe there are four major characteristics of successful viral efforts: […]

[…] Let me start the series off with a two part response to Seth Godin, here’s part 1: […]

[…] The factors that play into the “virality” of an idea, or more specifically a link in this case, is a topic I’ve started to delve into with my What Makes an Idea Viral series. Yesterday, Jason Kottke did a little bit of his own riffing on the Seth Godin post that started my series: Seth hits the nail right on the head with this. When I’m deciding what links to post here, I’m essentially curating ideas, collecting them to “send” to you (and to myself, in a way). And unconsciously, these seven points factor into my decision on what to post here. […]

[…] The old what makes an idea viral issues apply here and like other web usability problems they can be broken down into two camps: friction-reduction and inertia-generation. Just like in real world physics any movement towards an action, funnel or goal needs a certain amount of user intrest energy (inertia) to overcome the hassle (friction) associated with completing the tasks needed to accomplish the goal. A huge information squeeze page, with tons of required fields is a lot of friction and unless the user really wants to get at what on the other side of the wall they probably won’t want fill it all out. By pre-selling the destination to the user and making it as easy as possible for them to get to it, you’ll increase the percentage of viewers who do. […]