Does anybody else feel slightly uneasy about the modern practice of requesting user account information to gather all social links of a user (email is worse than MySpace, I guess, but still).
I wouldn't want my friends to submit my email-address anywhere, it is hard enough to keep spam in check as it is.
Also I think just having such a pesky "recommend me" form is not all there is to viral marketing. Some products can also be inherently viral, if they require several people to use. An example would be a multiplayer computer game. Slideshows and Photos are not that viral in comparison, because you can just watch photos passively.
"Some products can also be inherently viral, if they require several people to use. An example would be ..."
You fail at marketing 101. The point of marketing is that can greatly increase your adoption. Even if your product is the best thing in the whole world -- that doesn't at all mean that adoption of it will spread like wildfire.
I thought the point of making it viral would be to make it spread like wildfire? What does marketing 101 say about this? My guess is that "viral marketing" is not yet a word that is used in marketing 101.
I feel uneasy about that account-information practice, and I run a web site that does let people enter friends' email addresses. What sites besides Facebook ask for your account passwords?
I wouldn't want my friends to submit my email-address anywhere, it is hard enough to keep spam in check as it is.
Also I think just having such a pesky "recommend me" form is not all there is to viral marketing. Some products can also be inherently viral, if they require several people to use. An example would be a multiplayer computer game. Slideshows and Photos are not that viral in comparison, because you can just watch photos passively.