>Even in a hyperconnected world, there is still no substitute for word of mouth. Word of mouth is rarely authentic in the beginning. The key is to be able to

>Even in a hyperconnected world, there is still no substitute for word of mouth. Word of mouth is rarely authentic in the beginning. The key is to be able to plausibly manufacture it without being accused of spamming to any significant degree. AirbBnB, for example, got their start by spamming anyone that posted a listing for a rental property on Craigslist [1]. Flappy Bird was very likely "growth hacked" with fake downloads and reviews until it went viral [2]. Facebook's success essentially boils down to a contact importer that, especially in early incarnations, made it far to easy to accidentally spam hundreds of friends with invites to the service. The reality is that while a good product is a prerequisite for something eventually having viral success, every tech success that I am aware of (except for Google perhaps), up to and including Facebook, has built their empire on spam and TOS violations. If you want to be successful, build something that plausibly fits into these kinds of tactics and spam away. [1] http://davegooden.com/2011/05/how-airbnb-became-a-billion-dollar-company/ http://davegooden.com/2011/05/how-airbnb-became-a-billion-do... [2] http://nativex.com/blog/the-story-behind-why-flappy-bird-was-deleted/ http://nativex.com/blog/the-story-behind-why-flappy-bird-was...