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Do you use Google Reader? I need your help!

Calling all Google Reader users…
Are you reading this in Google Reader? If so, I need your help on a science experiment.

Click the SHARE button and share this blog post out to your friends, like this:

Why do this?
This may be your first time reading my blog, and you might be asking "Why would I want to do that?" I’m guessing that when Google built this feature, they didn’t think
people would use it to propagate chain letter-like things, like this
post ;-)

Take part in the first Viral Marketing "science experiment" inside of Google Reader! ;-) Let’s answer the quesiton, "Can it be done??"

(This experiment originally inspired by Scoble, who linked to me and said, "How did I find it? My friends on Google Reader shared it with me.
You can add me on Google Reader too")

Blogs can now easily jump from user-to-user with just one click, whereas before it was hard to "infect" another user virally. More on the viral marketing topic here. After this experiment runs its course, I’ll post a longer analysis and explanation, depending on how successful it is.

In the meantime, don’t forget to click on the SHARE button below! (Click here to go to Google Reader)

Like this post?
If you liked this post, please subscribe or follow me on Twitter. You can also find more essays here.

Written by Andrew Chen
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:19 am
  • http://www.createlf.com Asankhaya

    You are bang right on this one, If you have many friends on google reader(I dont :-( ) it can lead to a viral effect :)

  • http://www.pwnership.com Tom Reeves

    I love the site and the material. I’m sure to reference your posts on my blog (www.pwnership.com) because these are the tools I’m trying to get artists such as bands and writers to use to build better connections to their audiences.

  • http://www.jeffisageek.net jeff

    the share button has been clicked! :D

    (jeff)isageek

  • http://devinreams.com/ Devin Reams

    Anything for you, Mr. Chen.

  • http://scobleizer.com Robert Scoble

    I shared it, and I have hundreds of friends in Google Reader. It’ll be interesting to see if that causes a passalong effect.

  • http://waterhole-forma.blogspot.com/ peter

    I do and I did

    I share my reads with the facebook app. facehead which robert scoble ranted about and still does on occasion

  • http://www.wholewheatradio.org Jim Kloss

    Shared in a Google Reader shared page that acts as a community blog of sorts for Whole Wheat Radio folks. Extremely handy for me since I simply “share” any items from the various feeds I follow, and let the Google Reader shared “blog” page do the rest.

    http://feeds.feedburner.com/WWR2 (which points to the Google Reader shared items at http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/14006799895473078403/state/com.google/broadcast )

    BTW, I picked up your entry because I subscribe to “Items shared by David VanAmburg” via his Google Reader shared items.

    Viral indeed!

  • Adam P

    Shared it out, and it also ends up on my facebook profile.

    From a fellow Husky

    Adam

  • http://shellehs.72pines.com/ ShellehS

    i thought that this feature should b important as rss subcribsion, cuz ,you may not read all items of your subs, but most of all,you must have read the items befrore you shared them

  • http://adrianpegg.com Adrian

    I like Google Reader shared items. By why doesn’t Google connect with Google Shared Stuff http://www.google.com/s2/sharing/stuff

    It’s confusing having two places, which won’t talk to each other…

  • http://www.wholewheatradio.org Jim Kloss

    The kludge I use to get around that Adrian is that I go ahead and use Google Shared Stuff to flag non-RSS items as I surf. I subscribe to my own Goolge Shared Stuff RSS feed. Then when I’m in Google Reader, I click to share my own Shared Stuff with others.

    But I completely agree. I wish Google would just take the functionality of Google Shared Stuff and integrate it into Google Reader so external-to-RSS-feeds things could be easily shared via Google Reader.

  • http://azariath.blogspot.com Azariath

    Well, yes, this could be a new way to start a viral chain. We saw chain mails, chain instant messages and chain what not… Why not this? The only thing I would hate to see happen, is Google forced to do a Yahoo! with you being required to click on a verification link to prove you are human and not a bot!

  • http://profile.typekey.com/HeavyLight/ HeavyLight

    Another vote for Jim Kloss and Adrian’s seasonal wish to get Shared Stuff integrated within Reader.

    I use the same heavy-handed kludge to be able to add my comment to items and then Share them via Google Reader.

    (And I’m sure that Google Bookmarks ought to fit into the equation somewhere…)

  • http://www.remcokouwenhoven.nl Remco Kouwenhoven

    Hi, there are several ways to publish your reader ‘finds’. I personally publish several tags to my two blogs (one tag per blog). That way i can target the feed.

  • http://initiative.yo2.cn/ est

    A Chinese student found your post!

    This experiment is simply great idea!

  • http://initiative.yo2.cn/ est

    A Chinese student found your post!

    This experiment is simply great idea!

  • Fzero

    I saw your post in my google reader list and decided to write a comment just to say, loud and clear: NO. I don’t want to live in a world where shared articles act like spam.

  • John Moulton

    have you seen this? http://www.readburner.com/

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