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    #myfirstjob – a meme & a memory

    January 23rd, 2009 · Comments · Insight

    Written by: Kristin Maverick

    twitter

    People ask a lot of questions on Twitter for research, need or just pure fun. What is your favorite food? Who is the best person to follow on Twitter? Etc.. Etc…

    I noticed a post from Andrew Parker today started in  Tumblr-land about discussing your first job. People were quickly writing  blurbs about their entry into the workforce adding the title “Since Everyone’s Talking About Their First Jobs Today” and reblogging the last post they saw. The meme is currently over 100 reblogs and looks to be started from this Tumblr account.

    I found this interesting. Information being shared by people about their first job because as Andrew so eloquently states, “The internet decided that today we should all talk about our first job.”  And they did! So, to keep this meme going on a Friday afternoon (a great day in my opinion to start a meme as people are usually more inclined to participate) I asked Twitter to share their first job and  tag it with #myfirstjob.

    I figured a few friends would tag it and maybe it would end. I looked at it as an experiment within Twitter to test a viral question to the community. I thought I’d get some funny responses (which I did) and it would end. Well, my friends responded first. Then others caught on. Then it skyrocketed to the top of the trending list on Twitter with over 300 responses as of when this post went up. Wow. UPDATE: As of 5:30 today the number of #myfirstjob tweets is over 1,000.

    Check out the responses here.

    So, what can we learn from this? Michael Galpert from Aviary.com posts a great question:

    Todays Tumblr meme #myfirstjob shows how easy it will be to introduce plinky like prompts into the community. I wonde r if/when they will?

    The fact that it took less than 2 minutes to ask a question and receive hundreds of responses is truly fascinating. This data and information is valuable to someone and people are probably tracking it as we speak. The method of this simple form question in a community could be used for brands, companies, anything you want as long as it’s simple, provides value and just a little fun to the community.

    Companies: If you still don’t “get” Twitter. Use this example of gathering data as you first step towards “getting” it and realizing just why you should engage. Just as long as you don’t spam the community, realize the value and have fun with it. The numbers prove that it works.

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    Comments

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    • Being a personal friend of yours, you'd think I'd learned the meme from you, but instead it was from @woodlandalyssa and I piled on since it was an easy thought to compose in a short amount of time. The momentum of such viral things is at once both a remarkable thing, and yet still mysterious, a conglomeration of implicit trust on source, friendly peer pressure, utter curiousity and usability.

      Pretty cool. Also check out Shelley Greenberg's RAMday summary from her blog at thespottedduck.com. Similiar idea and results.
    • sj
      awesome commentary and exactly the sort of case studies that will help prove value and translate to practical use patterns. thanks mavs!
    • jtdell
      Fantastic work Mavs.. love that my friends in the Bay Area are participating (even the ones who don't know you!). I wonder if the popularity of these things peaks on a Friday afternoon...
    • Kristin Maverick
      I definitely think the timing of these things adds to its success. Friday afternoons traditionally mean less meetings and more time to roam a bit on the internet. Plus, as long as it has an emotional tie---these things are fun to do!
    • Not to get all commercial on you, but I could see an actual business application in this. The movie promotion business has always sought to connect the content of their film with something happening in the lives or communities of film goers. So if a movie were to be coming out called, "My First Kiss," (a pretty good name for a movie, I think), a movie promoter might seed a #firstkiss meme the Friday before the movie opening. There could be a lot of similar applications designed to spur the online equivalent of water cooler chatter and at the same time create a subtle brand impression. Very cool stuff.
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