Unleashing the Ideavirus

Unleashing the Ideavirus
45
 www.ideavirus.com
to promiscuous sneezer, available for sale. William Shatner had lost his ability to set style
through his actions—he was past his prime as a powerful sneezer. So the segue to paid
sneezer made sense for his career. It would probably be a dumb move for Tom Cruise or Mel
Gibson, though.
After I left Yahoo!, I had many opportunities to serve on boards and do endorsements. I
chose not to. Why? Because I didn’t want to squander the powerful sneezing points I’d
earned by writing my last book. The one ad I did, I did for free. I’m still hearing about it.
Think about your own situation…. Have you ever signed up a friend for MCI’s Friends and
Family program? Or tried to get someone to use your Amazon affiliate links to buy books?
Or join with you to buy something at Mercata.com? In every case, you’re getting paid to
alter your behavior. That makes you more promiscuous and less powerful.
As the Net makes it easier to measure ideaviruses and motivate sneezers, we’re going to see
far more people become Promiscuous Sneezers, but, at the same time, the role of the
powerful sneezer will become ever more important. As available attention becomes ever more
precious, we’re going to be far more likely to listen to someone who’s spreading a virus for
non-personal gain.
Epinions.com is a fascinating model of the intersection between the powerful and the
promiscuous sneezers. Here’s a site where hundreds of thousands of people come to hear the
opinions of thousands of sneezers. Everything is reviewed, from books to dishwashers. And
the reviewers are clearly identified and constantly ranked. Promiscuous sneezers (who get
paid to do the reviews) suddenly become powerful! How? If a lot of people read and like
your reviews, your reviews carry more weight, regardless of your compensation scheme.
“Xyz” has posted more than 1,000 reviews and been read more than 100,000 times. She’s
compensated every time someone reads one of her reviews, so she certainly qualifies as
promiscous. She works hard to get others to read her reviews. But at the same time, she’s
developing a reputation as a powerful sneezer.

---