Foursquare and Viral Marketing Patterns
I was reading The Twitter Highlights of Foursquare CEO’s Where 2.0 Talk and this quote by Dennis Crowley stuck with me: “How can I turn life into a video game?” This quote was apparently the inspiration behind the wildly popular Foursquare.
Today I somehow landed on this page about design patterns in viral marketing which included a fascinating list of 21 patterns that have been successful in viral marketing. They included “animal personification”, “violate a stereotype”, and “Objects doing things they weren’t really made for.” If you think about it, these have a ring of familiarity. We’ve been seeing them in ads and on the Internet for ages. Most of us (or at least me) have never been able to discern a pattern, but a guy named Mike Laurie has.
So, what’s the point? Well, here’s #21 on the list: “Connect video games to real life.” I wonder if Dennis Crowley has seen this list of successful patterns for viral marketing or if it’s coincidence?
