Unleashing the Ideavirus – Seth Godin – Review Part 2
Centered around people, each and every individual can claim a part of the Internet action, and profit. Seth describes a temporary vacuum surrounding meteoric success stories, though.
Timing is all important. When your fifteen minutes is up – it’s up. This is the reason he left his writing job at Yahoo and turned to publishing his own material.
The word-of-mouth action has a rise and a fall. The constant here is the people who function as sneezers.
Godin describes a brilliant innovation that he believes is missing sneezers as a necessary ingredient for success. He refers to a company called Digitec that came up with a way to scan dots from a magazine using the camera on the computer.
The immediate function of bypassing the keyboard and getting to a Digitec product promotion seems infinitely brilliant. Yet this convenience has the missing factor of the word-of-mouth interplay. The prerequisite here is people who will pass the virus around.
Vectors, Viruses, Mediums, and Stats
It’s all in this book, and explained in great detail. A great launchpad for anyone endeavoring the promotion of a business.
Vectors explain where to begin and which direction to go.
Viruses are usually thought of as evil malware, but they can be used for gain as well.
Mediums are the fluid movement of a virus. Here he references the way trends get started amongst teens.
Statistics prove out his information. Here he gives plenty of sources.
Tiny little aspect that I don’t like
I do have personal negative reactions to some of the vocabulary. Most of my complaints exist outside of practical concerns. Vocabulary on the internet developed so fast, I find a lot of complaints. For example, the word blog just doesn’t resonate anything with dignity.
Anyway, the apt description encompassed by the word sneeze could hardly be more pithy. But I get the visual imagery of illness, and other unlovely thoughts. Same response to virus.
Can the spread of the idea virus be the evolution to a more spiritual humankind, as well as a catapult to increased wealth and prosperity? The answer to this question should be available soon, given the speed at which things happen these days.
Though my fascination with this book is engaged in the futureshock process, I highly recommend reading Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Idea Virus .