Karenism Deliciously geeky

A few years ago while I was hanging out in Soda, I bumped into an acquaintance who had already graduated. We got to chatting, and he was telling me about the “roses” his company sold. He worked for a dating site, and they had this idea to sell flower graphic that show up on the receivers profile page for a few days (because flowers wilt, duh!). They had $1 and $2 dollar flowers, and the $10 red rose. They didn’t think anyone would buy the top flower; it was supposed be the ‘top shelf scotch’–taken out only for special occasions. It turns out that people bought more red roses than any other flower. Receivers often got confused and upset when the flowers ‘wilted’ and disappeared. This was brilliant. The ROI on this was huge. It would only be a matter of time before this plan caught on.

Enter facebook. They have introduced ‘gifts’ for $1. I suspect that these gifts will make facebook a tidy chunk of change. When they take it a step further, they will probably will introduce tiers of gifts, and the more expensive pngs will be better designed (one would hope. They could simply be the most popular pngs, hence the free gift to gather data. The first one is always free.)

And yes, they are popular. When I was musing about who I should give my one gift to, Ashot immediately claimed it. Why? Well, of course you know why. My berkeley self cries out. And while I am laughing at the absurdity of paying money for these pictures, would you be so kind as to give me your one gift?

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