Reed’s law is the assertion of David P. Reed that the utility of large networks, particularly social networks, can scale exponentially with the size of the network.
The reason for this is that the number of possible sub-groups of network participants is 
, where N is the number of participants. This grows much more rapidly than either
- the number of participants, N, or
- the number of possible pair connections,
(which follows Metcalfe’s law)
so that even if the utility of groups available to be joined is very small on a per-group basis, eventually the network effect of potential group membership can dominate the overall economics of the system.
Facebook has seen this effect happen more rapidly then any other site on the internet. MySpace has also been able to tap into this equation and reap the benefits of it. It’s almost as if all they needed was a handful of people to join the site and the numbers game was going to do the marketing for itself (people know people). So long as these sites keep the users happy and constantly update with new features, the marketing is going to get done on its own because people are going to want to have their friends and family join in on their great “network” experience. Yes you will lose people on the network for many different reasons, but if Reeds Law holds true, the number of people joining are going to far succeed the number of people dropping out.
No Comments » Posted on August 28th, 2007 by Kevin Donlan
CustomScoop’s PR Blog Jots loves to cover all the scandalous things we say here at Marketing Conversation, the last coming from Roads? Where We’re Going, We Won’t Need Roads (and Other PR Blog Jots) (scroll down), wherein we are called tramps and sluts. Long-story-short, that sort of language kind of turns us on.
‘Reacting to a post on the recent Sophos study showing that Facebook users may be too free in granting friend requests, Chris Abraham wonders if he is virtually “slutty,” noting his hundreds of connections on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN. The study questioned whether too much online transparency can be dangerous, but can’t large social networks like Chris’ be helpful and important? Would denying friend requests from strangers mean missing opportunities? “They’re all rockstars and A-listers, but am I too trampy? Am I a slut? How do you handle your social networks? I consider what I am doing is being a connector, being a mini Kevin Bacon, not a prostitute. I love to game serendipity.” ‘ Via CustomScoop’s PR Blog Jots
2 Comments » Posted on August 28th, 2007 by Abraham Harrison
I am a trusting soul who doesn’t cry conspiracy: I love creepy, in-my-head targeted ads. I mourned when DoubleClick’s back got broken because they were going to offer tools to stalk me, monitor me, and serve me all of my hopes and dreams. Chris-World, realized.
“Social networking Website Facebook is working on an advertising system to allow marketers to target users with ads based on the information people reveal about themselves on the site.” Via Daily News and Analysis, BizReport.com, MediaPost , and E-Commerce Times
I wonder how targeted and “creepy” Facebook’s new scheme will be? I hope Zuckerberg is bold in his vision because it would be sad not to have innovation here but Yet Another McTargeted Ad Scheme. That would be sad.
No Comments » Posted on August 28th, 2007 by Abraham Harrison
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