Friday, April 27, 2012

When does 'viral' become annoying?

The first real awareness of Viral Marketing was with that dancing baby that swept around our massive computers back in 1996. Baby Cha Cha was a beta for computer animation and formed the basis of a sample source file causing a great deal of re-working and creative re-use.  It was used in Ally MacBeal which was a programme I detested so I always found it annoying when people would send me their jokes containing this rather clever piece of pioneering work.

I have been trying to get some kind of 'pyramid' effect - viral marketing - happening for my book, and to a certain extent, I think it works better if you have a Facebook full of disparate, not-friends-really, collected names.  Friends are too hesitant to buy your book even if it is free as the thought of giving you an honest critique freaks most of them out!!  Let me state - that's not me.  I am so used to be critiqued in every way for work that I am used to it.  Water off a duck's back.  Personal attacks are annoying though and it is hard to detach from that and go for the defence of the 1950s 'You're just jealous!' with a poked out tongue!

Anyway, I have hounded and pestered my friends for a few days and I hope that they will forgive and realise that I would support them in their endeavours.  I have one more free day left on amazon and then, who knows, it just may keep rolling along? Heaven knows it is cheap enough at $2.99!

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