The Influence Project by Fast Company is a controversial online experiment in viral marketing.
The project aims to “show what happens when an individual takes an audience at rest and applies an unbalanced force–through suggestion, advice or direction–that converts it into an army of action”.
The idea is to upload your picture, get an ‘influence link’ then get as many people as you can to click on your link & register. The more people who click & register on your link, the bigger your picture gets. That picture will appear in the November print issue of Fast Company.
Fast Company did think some wild & crazy things would happen (SEO, spamming, 4chan, charity bribes).
But would you like to see how influential you really are?
This is social media. We don’t have to change the channel, we can change the conversation.
Would you like to see if the project can be upended completely?
Is the winner really going to be a smiling social media/PR/marketing expert?
Or can it be a collective statement of anonymity? Or rebellion? Or a push to help someone who is missing – who’s absence is the influence on those left behind?
Or can the real most influential person be someone that convinces many different people to engage with The Influence Project in a way that CAN’T be measured?
Here are some ideas I came up with to “change the conversation” – add your own in the comments!
1) Create an all black anonymous profile picture – see if it can get to the top.
2) What about creating a “black out” of profile pictures? What would it look like if you asked your influence group to change their profile to black?
3) What about a massive piece of art as people simply choose their favourite colour as their picture?
4) What about making your profile mean something? Use a missing child picture for your profile. You could turn Fast Company into a giant milk carton.
(Out of all these ideas, this is my personal favourite).
Here are three missing children with influence URLs that need your help:
Javon:
Influence URL: http://fcinf.com/v/brh6
Full details about Javon at the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children
Norma:
Influence URL: http://fcinf.com/v/b63o
Full details about Norma at the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children
Sara:
Influence URL: http://fcinf.com/v/cvhe
Full details about Sara at the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children
You can find out more about missing children here:
5) Or maybe completely mess with them. Fast Company expected deception for personal gain. “hello 4Chan” they said. But what about deception to mess up the experiment? What about creating tonnes of anonymous profiles and clicking them up? Will Fast Company accept this or start killing spam profiles?
This project is an “editorial investigation”. So let’s give them their investigation. Not by opting out, but by opting in using whatever unexpected & creative means you can think of.
What do you think – can the Influence Project be influenced?