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Do you have more examples of brute force approaches that have worked? I think it's often overlooked, and necessary even if you have narrowed the target audienc
by robgo 14y ago
Do you have more examples of brute force approaches that have worked? I think it's often overlooked, and necessary even if you have narrowed the target audience as you have suggested.
- bbalfour 14y agoBy Brute Force, I think I mean just incentivizing the audience in some way. The two most likely ways to incentivize are: 1. Monetary - Yelp paid reviewers a couple bucks a review. At Viximo we paid out guarantees. Glam paid out guarantees on minimum CPM's to early publishers. 2. Social Capital - From stories I've heard about LinkedIN, Reid Hoffman and early employees got friends to use the network and invite others. 3. Early Access/Coolness - You see this with beta invites, restricting early access, etc.
- wsu718 14y agoAirBnb also owes some success to a bit more gray/black hat approach if I remember correctly: http://davegooden.com/2011/05/how-airbnb-became-a-billion-dollar-company/ http://davegooden.com/2011/05/how-airbnb-became-a-billion-do... Sometimes you gotta do what it takes.
- Rhino55 14y agoAdvertising. This includes questionable activities like Airbnb's Craigslist operations. So-called "brute force" is only one method. FB had early success by having an extremely desirable social network. Which network would you like to join, the one with Harvard students or the one with students from a small, second-rate liberal arts college? I've heard that Linked-in grew this way too, by seeding the network with high-status people. This could be called the "brute status" approach.