Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

Eric Kintz had a conversation recently with Bernardo Huberman, Senior HP Fellow and Director of the Information Dynamics Lab at Hewlett-Packard Labs. He is an expert in the area of the dynamics of viral marketing.

Kintz adds concerning Huberman and a team he was involved with:

"A team composed of members from HP Labs, University of Michigan Ann Arbor and Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburg analyzed the data from a person-to-person recommendation network, consisting of 4 million people who made 16 million recommendations on half a million products. The team observed the propagation of recommendations and the cascade sizes, as well as established how the recommendation network grows over time."

There is one observation of the study that I want to talk about with you since we've been hitting it hard lately; that is that the smaller and tighter knit a group is, the more liable it is to be part of a successful viral marketing effort.

In larger groups the word of mouth fizzles out after the first few contacts. Contrary to what a lot of people throw around out there concerning huge viral numbers, general crowds or interests don't cater to viruses being spread.

Nobody spreads what is general and common. Now when I made that last statement, I mean in a way that is meaningful to a core group of people. Sure we might hear about a tragedy somewhere in the world and then mention it to someone else; but it's simply a part of the general, everyday coversation and events that don't penetrate within a person.

What I'm saying is don't equate viral with large numbers. The two don't necessarily coincide with one another. The more focused something is to a group of people that are likeminded, the more viral it will go. Viral isn't numbers or width, it is interest and depth within a people.