I know….this does not sound like a very serious, thought-provoking topic, but a fellow co-founder and I were having a discussion today about successful seeds: basically, social triggers that act as a catalyst to help get an online community started. One of the things he mentioned that might help out (and in fact, has been a part of SNS strategies in the past) has been getting hot chicks (good-looking girls) to become registered users, while making sure they upload their photos. There have been studies in the past that show both men and women will herd towards good looking women. This is obviously not a sustainable method of creating a loyal user-base. That’s not what it’s meant for. No doubt that you have to have a solid, useful product to build community loyalty - but do hot chicks a good seed make? Whadya’ think?
2 Responses to “do hot chicks a good seed make?”
Madhurika,
Thanks a ton for your eloquent dissection of the blog post. I just want to restate my very straightforward intention here in posting this: I was simply asking the community what they felt about this strategy that has been employed in the past (a la MySpace). I personally do not believe it is sustainable or meaningful, but is something like this enough to simply seed the commmunity, enough of a kickstart to give it some legitimacy? The ethics behind this strategy is another completely different issue, and one I do not intend to spend much time thinking about.
Again, many thanks for your very well written commentary.
Left by deap on October 4th, 2006
Hi,
I read the Businessworld article (kudos for that) and sort of looked into the websites featured. As a current resident of Madras, i guess one would need to wait awhile to see an analogous site of the same for other cities barring Mumbai, but i like the concept of a ‘democratized’ site that gives one a more first hand perspective!..All good, and i wish you well!-)
However, I stumbled upon this blog, and-) while i can appreciate its apparent undertone of flippancy-), i do feel, as a person who has lived here for a better part of her life, that one of the urban/urbane maladies that afflict contemporary Indian ethos is the inability to subconsciously separate ‘a social life’ from, (especially these past few years with our urban meltdowns), the inherent and largely irrelevant perception, ironically by the youth, of it just catering to simplicicities such as it being synonymous with ‘hot women’ -)), or pretentious peuso-snobbery’- the other extreme-))… i know you put that disclaimer in yourself, so i was just writing in to say, it does not annoy but just pleasantly peeve that a site that is well-welcome,perhaps, could distinguish itself manifold by not catering to the pervasive undertone amonst many a misguided/insular youth in urban india, and recognise that…well, EVERYONE want a social life-)) and that there are all kinds of surprising(even to myself) and myriad avenues to have a blast…i mention this even as i return form one of these stalwarts of insularity at the early hours of morning, as i honestly feel there is a very lucrative basis to exploring innovativeness in our social scene in contemporary india…i know it because it is required, exists to a great deal, but is fragmented…i perhaps will take the grave liberty of portending that the future of the degrre of succes to your endeavour will lie in exploring and figuiring out just what makes…’ALL’ indians(urban?) tick..that would be innovative, and innovativeness is afterall the seedbed of entrepreneurship..
I am sorry, its late and i get impulsively loquacious at moments for reasons best left unexplained, much to my chagrin the morning!
Dont get me wrong, i feel silly to spell out the fact that i am the first one with my proverbial dancing shoes on…but i love observing and reflecting on the many intricate aspects/avenues/generations of contemporary India, and i truly have come to the conclusion, it is sometimes really cool to see what makes everyone tick at the end of the day here! A study in itself..! And would be lucrative no doubt..
All the best with your efforts, and i am assuming ofcourse, that my comments arejust for your Team!
Oh my me!-)
Cheers,
Madhurika
Left by Madhurika on September 4th, 2006