Unsubscribing, and the Power of Guilt

I tried out Groupon a while back, while I was checking out different services for local online coupons. Finding myself just deleting the daily emails, I decided to just unsubscribe to help keep my inbox empty.

When I unsubscribed, I stumbled upon a clever idea for getting folks to resubscribe:

 

Now, I'm not normally a cruel person, but could *you* resist punishing Derrick? 

I didn't think so.

His coworker then proceeds to berate and attack him:

Poor Derrick, lying on the floor, suffering. Don't you feel badly for punishing him? Just a little? 

Wouldn't you feel better if you... resubscribed? 

Yeah, I didn't either, but still very creative.

If you feel Derrick still hasn't suffered enough, you can give him his just desserts here:

• http://www.groupon.com/washington-dc/unsubscribed

Shock, Awe & Virality

Admit it, you've done it. You could have kept it to yourself, but you just had to spread it around. Who could blame you? It's easy to do.

I'm not referring to a virus, of course, but instead that news article about the King Tut's cause of death or Tiger Woods' latest mishap.

The authors of this paper studied over 7000 New York Times articles to research which factors cause content to be viral. What makes us want to share something?

They identified several factors including content that is:

• Awe-inspiring
• Surprising
• Emotional
• Useful
• Positive

Fascinating article, check it out:

Social Transmission and Viral Culture « ResourceShelf