Unleashing the Ideavirus

Unleashing the Ideavirus
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 www.ideavirus.com
It’s a way of communicating news (this is a hot stock) to large numbers of people in a
powerful way.
After the stock is public, the company has its work cut out for it. There’s a multi-layered
community of intermediaries between the stock and the people who want to buy it, and the
company must work the hive to find the most powerful sneezers able to spread the word
about the stock.
The first stop is the market analysts who cover the stock. Once again, the marketplace sees
this group as being powerful sneezers (when one analyst recommended Amazon.com, the
price of the stock doubled in just a few days). By courting the analyst community, a
company can find a way to communicate the story they’ve created around the stock.
Don’t underestimate the power of the story. There are almost no other cues available to
persuade someone to spread the word about a stock. You can’t see it or touch it or smell
it—it’s just an intangible right to make money in the future. As a result, the story must be
able to describe the reason why the stock is selling for x today but will be selling for 3x
tomorrow.
Brokers are a fascinating component in the spreading of an ideavirus around a stock.
Remember, they’re not paid unless people trade. Buy and hold is the enemy of most
stockbroker compensation schemes, since they only charge for trades and are paid by
commission. Yet, for many decades, brokers were seen as powerful sneezers, especially if they
helped make you money in the past. In fact, they’ve always been promiscuous sneezers,
motivated (whether in the short term or the long term) by their ultimate financial gain. A
“good” broker is one who realizes that if he postpones financial gain in exchange for helping
his clients make money in the long run he’ll get more and more clients.
All this is changing as the world shifts to trading online, and more important, getting stock
news online. Suddenly, anyone can talk about stocks, anyone can post to a bulletin board,
and anyone can spread a rumor.

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