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The “25 Random Things” Craze
I’ve been intrigued about the “25 Random Things About Me” phenomenon that has been sweeping Facebook for the last 2 weeks. If you’re not familiar with the craze, people write 25 random things about themselves in the Facebook Notes application. They then “tag” 25 of their Facebook friends in the note, so those people are alerted to their friend’s note. The tagged friend is supposed to then write their own list of random things and tag 25 people with their note. And so on, and so on.
The first thing that intrigued me was the sheer speed with which the idea spread. According to the New York Times, almost 5 million Facebook Notes were created in the last week (as of Feb 4), which is double the number of Notes created the week before and the largest number of Notes created during any week in Facebook’s history. Not all 5 million Notes were 25 Random Things of course, but a very larger percentage were.
The second thing that intrigued me was what people said about themselves. Facebook has a voyeuristic appeal, where people can post all kinds of information about themselves, including photos and videos, that other people in their network can see. You learn interesting things about your friends and friends of friends. Sometimes it’s more than you want to know (or should know). You can also post things like a photo that include a friend and tag that friend so it shows up in the Photos section of their Facebook profile. Some of the most “interesting” things among my friends are old photos that their friends have posted from when they were much younger. You just have to hope your friends are kind to you!
The range of information in the “25 Random Things” notes among my friends runs the gamut from poignant and insightful to funny, sad, TMI or incredibly revealing. It’s an interesting way to learn more about your close and not-so-close friends and acquaintances.
Some of the more interesting things I learned about my friends:
- One almost died in a plane crash and was named after a Beatles song
- One is adamant that you put the knife in the jelly BEFORE putting it in the peanut butter when making a sandwich
- One is scared of feet
- One delivered a presentation on stage seconds after spilling an entire Grande Latte in the crotch of his khaki pants
- One loves playing Pinochle with friends (and isn’t anywhere close to retirement age)
- One thinks he looks better in black and white photos than color ones
- One had a boss once ask her what she was planning to do with her hair (ouch!) and loves canned peas (yuck!)
- One has run 10 marathons and is training for # 11
So, you might be asking, what is the marketing angle here?
First of all, it’s a powerful example of network effect, one of the most powerful things in a world where everyone is connected. Those 5 million new Notes pages represent 5 million new places in one week for Facebook to get ad impressions that make them money. It’s like a giant multi-level marketing opportunity. If “25 Random Things” experienced 100% participation (which of course it doesn’t but for the sake of easy math, let’s assume it does), then that 1st note posted results in 25 new notes, which result in 625 more notes, which become 15,625 notes and so on. Those 5 million pages today could quickly become 50 million pages or more if the phenomenon continues at its current pace.
Second, it’s an example of a “sticky” (to use an Internet cliché) feature that can endear people even more to Facebook. It reinforces the personal, social and connected aspects of the site, which are increasingly important to people online in general. The more friends you have on Facebook, the more you probably use the site. The more you use it, the more invested you get – you start using it as your online place for photos and videos perhaps, or it replaces your regular email service for some communication. The more you use it, the less time you’re spending on other sites and the less likely you’ll stop using Facebook, at least for now.
But, one of the interesting things we’ve seen over the last several years is the fleeting popularity of some social networking services. Some tend to have a very fad-like appeal. Remember Friendster? How about Plaxo? For me at least, each one seemed to come out of nowhere one day and, within a couple of weeks, I had tons of friends on the site inviting me to join. People used it actively for a year or so, and then everything seemed to stop almost as quickly as it started.
Facebook has only been around since 2004, and didn’t really emerge on the mainstream until a  couple of years later, yet it’s already the 5th most visited web site in the world, according to Alexa. It has grown from about 4% daily reach to more than 15% in the last 6 months alone. It’s daily reach is now basically the same as MSN, which has had more than 13 years to build its global audience and offers a much broader and deeper range of information and services.
Only time will tell whether Facebook has better staying power than some of its social network predecessors. But the more connected, personal and social it becomes -- and the more its users take advantage of those capabilities with ideas like "25 Random Things" that resonate with the masses -- the greater the chance it has to continue to be popular.
So, in the interest of full disclosure, and for your voyeristic pleasure, here are my 25 Random Things:
25 Random Things About Ed
- I dreaded getting one of these “25 Random Things” requests once I saw other friends doing them.
- I’m flattered I got tagged within 2 days of when I first saw them.
- It took me 6 days to start writing my 25 things.
- There, I just used up 4 things on the list! This isn’t so hard after all …
- I can be kind of anal sometimes and edited the instructions above from the original I received for proper punctuation and capitalization so future generations will benefit.
- I have a wonderful partner and we just celebrated our 5th anniversary laying in the sun in Mexico. I’m very lucky.
- I once saw Russia from my backyard and thought I should go into politics but later realized I was having an Ambien episode.
- I always wanted a penguin as a pet but it’s apparently illegal. Go figure.
- I love dogs more than some people and get much enjoyment out of Chico and Dharma (and Digby, RIP).
- My favorite color is blue.
- I never wear sweaters.
- The “Ed’s Favorites” playlist on my MP3 player includes Jason Mraz, Sinatra, Pink, The Maytals, Elvis, The Who, Beyoncé, Boney M and Chikezie. I was too cheap to buy any of Sanjaya’s songs, though I did shake his hand at an American Idol concert (wimpy handshake).
- I pretended I had kids with me at the American Idol concert, like all the other adults seemed to have, but it was just a ruse so I wouldn’t look pathetic.
- I don’t sleep very well.
- I have uncle-ly instinct but no paternal instinct.
- I just realized what a strange word “uncle” is when trying to look up the uncle equivalent of “paternal,” which I don’t think exists but it should.
- After this year I will have lived in Seattle longer than anywhere else.
- I once sat next to Princess Nora of Liechtenstein at a dinner party. Trying to make small talk, like an idiot I asked her if she hangs out with the Windsor’s at all. She said “no” and smiled.
- I played rugby for 8 years in high school and college and was co-captain and co-coach of my high school team one year. I now have bad back problems.
- I went to high school in France and have recently re-connected with a bunch of great school friends and teachers thanks to Facebook.
- I love scuba diving and got certified a few years ago but have only done it once on vacation.
- I’ve been to more than 25 countries and 5 continents but have never been to South America.
- I love my family.
- I left Microsoft about a year ago after 16 years there (which is like 112 years in real life) to take some time off and get my pilot’s license.
- I recently started my own marketing consulting firm and am working with companies who want to bring marketing excellence to their organizations.
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