Robert Scoble and The Pied-Piper Effect
I've noticed some interesting happenings on Twitter recently that have inspired me to coin a term "The Pied Piper Effect". The setup is as follows.
A user on a social network starts to accrete a large number of followers to the extent that this user becomes the most followed user on the network. This user is popular for one of a number of reasons -
a) They have something useful to say about the world outside the web.
b) They have something useful to say about the web.
c) The number of messages that they send attracts attention and people are drawn just to see what the noise is all about.
d) The number of messages that they send about themselves being on the web talking about the web or about other people talking about the web draws people even more to see why that might even be faintly interesting.
On Twitter Robert Scoble falls into category d) but he is not the only member of the category. This category of user, at the head of the power law distribution, becomes at some point the test of the infrastructure of the service. Some services like Facebook (5000 followers max), LinkedIn (500 connections max) limit the number of links to other users. Some services (Twitter, FriendFeed...) don't. It is the latter that provide fertile ground for Pied Piper behavior.
A Scoble-like user accretes a large number of users, stresses the network talking mainly about themselves talking about themselves - "come see me I am livecasting myself now and I will be talking about my next livecasting event". And then when the network begins to show signs of stress the Scoble-like user threatens to move, or actually moves, the focus of their attention to a new and as yet not fully saturated network.
The hypnotized children follow.
The Pied Piper does this because the denizens of the previous town refused to "pay the piper". The children follow because they are afraid they might miss a note or a beat and then, oh my god the horrors. And all this will happen to the next town at some point and the next.
But the more important question is - how many of these newly created social networks get populated in the first place just because a Scoble-like user happened to pass by the town with the kids in tow and happened to stop by? To massively mix metaphors, is there a Pied-Piper-Pollination effect in play?
And then there's the much bigger question about whether the tune that the Piper is playing is even music at all, and whether the price is worth it - but that's a whole other story.
A user on a social network starts to accrete a large number of followers to the extent that this user becomes the most followed user on the network. This user is popular for one of a number of reasons -
a) They have something useful to say about the world outside the web.
b) They have something useful to say about the web.
c) The number of messages that they send attracts attention and people are drawn just to see what the noise is all about.
d) The number of messages that they send about themselves being on the web talking about the web or about other people talking about the web draws people even more to see why that might even be faintly interesting.
On Twitter Robert Scoble falls into category d) but he is not the only member of the category. This category of user, at the head of the power law distribution, becomes at some point the test of the infrastructure of the service. Some services like Facebook (5000 followers max), LinkedIn (500 connections max) limit the number of links to other users. Some services (Twitter, FriendFeed...) don't. It is the latter that provide fertile ground for Pied Piper behavior.
A Scoble-like user accretes a large number of users, stresses the network talking mainly about themselves talking about themselves - "come see me I am livecasting myself now and I will be talking about my next livecasting event". And then when the network begins to show signs of stress the Scoble-like user threatens to move, or actually moves, the focus of their attention to a new and as yet not fully saturated network.
The hypnotized children follow.
The Pied Piper does this because the denizens of the previous town refused to "pay the piper". The children follow because they are afraid they might miss a note or a beat and then, oh my god the horrors. And all this will happen to the next town at some point and the next.
But the more important question is - how many of these newly created social networks get populated in the first place just because a Scoble-like user happened to pass by the town with the kids in tow and happened to stop by? To massively mix metaphors, is there a Pied-Piper-Pollination effect in play?
And then there's the much bigger question about whether the tune that the Piper is playing is even music at all, and whether the price is worth it - but that's a whole other story.
posted by Nitin at 5:13 PM
3 Comments:
Who's R.S?
I think I read a blog from some Winer dude about 2 yrs ago that knew somebody by that name too...
Nitin, great post and there really is a power law in operation here, the powerlaw piper perhaps. I joined friendfeed today and I was asked if I wanted to make fiends with their popular people - the usual suspects.
But I think the piper is tiring ..
I like Scoble + what he has to say*
If anybody doesn't think the A Listers aren't Pimping themselves all over the place they're Delusional*
;)) Peace*
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