NEAR yet so FAR
The other day while chatting with my friend Shreerang, we 'invented' two new ratios. The first one is his invention, the second one I shall law claim to.
The first ratio is what he loosely described as 'Network Adoption Ratio' or NEAR in short. Now, he did not offer any definition but I shall attempt one nevertheless. This ratio measures the quickness or tardiness of an individual's response to a new fad on social networking sites. For example, I am insouciantly aware of some what-color-is-my-bra-today stuff doing the rounds of Facebook. Lets call this the fad. Something which is spreading at a phenomenal speed. Lets further hazard an estimate to its lifecycle period. Assume it began on 1st January, reached it peak on 7th January and will fade off people's memory by the 15th. So this fad's lifetime is hypothesized as 15 days. Now assume two men named Pervert and Divert. Pervert gets hooked on to bra-gazing on 2nd Jan while Divert, true to his name, is finally captured by the fad on 11th January. Now, Pervert's adoption ratio is 1/15 = 6%, while Divert's adoption ratio is 10/15 = 66%. Thats the concept. As I see this, the NEAR ratio can be a useful metric in evaluating the efficacy of social networks. More importantly, it can give useful insights of consumer behaviour for viral marketing on the internet.
The second ratio which we discussed, is what I have called 'Friendship Attrition Ratio' or FAR in short. This is has been imagined by me, because as they say, necessity is the need for invention. I had been wondering for a long time about a major flaw in me, and to construe this shortcoming I came up with the FAR ratio. This is what it means...
Over a period of 5 years, count the number of people whom you got pleasantly acquainted with. In my case lets say 500. Now, estimate the number of people out of these with whom you are in touch with at the end of 5 years. Again, in my case this number would be around 50. (best case estimate!). Then the FAR will be calculated as (500-50)/500 = 90%. In simple terms, if I meet someone today and befriend him/her, there is a statistical probability of 90% that I shall forget him/her! How does that sound now :-)
Note: I am given to understand the color-of-my-bra was a social awareness campaign for breast cancer. So please train your guns while rebuffing my sarcasm above. I appreciate the underlying cause and if people get educated this way! who am I to ridicule. Lage Raho.. Jai Social Networking.
The first ratio is what he loosely described as 'Network Adoption Ratio' or NEAR in short. Now, he did not offer any definition but I shall attempt one nevertheless. This ratio measures the quickness or tardiness of an individual's response to a new fad on social networking sites. For example, I am insouciantly aware of some what-color-is-my-bra-today stuff doing the rounds of Facebook. Lets call this the fad. Something which is spreading at a phenomenal speed. Lets further hazard an estimate to its lifecycle period. Assume it began on 1st January, reached it peak on 7th January and will fade off people's memory by the 15th. So this fad's lifetime is hypothesized as 15 days. Now assume two men named Pervert and Divert. Pervert gets hooked on to bra-gazing on 2nd Jan while Divert, true to his name, is finally captured by the fad on 11th January. Now, Pervert's adoption ratio is 1/15 = 6%, while Divert's adoption ratio is 10/15 = 66%. Thats the concept. As I see this, the NEAR ratio can be a useful metric in evaluating the efficacy of social networks. More importantly, it can give useful insights of consumer behaviour for viral marketing on the internet.
The second ratio which we discussed, is what I have called 'Friendship Attrition Ratio' or FAR in short. This is has been imagined by me, because as they say, necessity is the need for invention. I had been wondering for a long time about a major flaw in me, and to construe this shortcoming I came up with the FAR ratio. This is what it means...
Over a period of 5 years, count the number of people whom you got pleasantly acquainted with. In my case lets say 500. Now, estimate the number of people out of these with whom you are in touch with at the end of 5 years. Again, in my case this number would be around 50. (best case estimate!). Then the FAR will be calculated as (500-50)/500 = 90%. In simple terms, if I meet someone today and befriend him/her, there is a statistical probability of 90% that I shall forget him/her! How does that sound now :-)
Note: I am given to understand the color-of-my-bra was a social awareness campaign for breast cancer. So please train your guns while rebuffing my sarcasm above. I appreciate the underlying cause and if people get educated this way! who am I to ridicule. Lage Raho.. Jai Social Networking.
Labels: Gyaan
7 comments
Lol!
Oh so that's what the random colors posted on status messages meant!
hahaha, best post I have read in recent time.
Ha ha ha..yeah itoo read about this bra color fad on facebook..interesting .why not patent/copyright it !!!..and by the way to start with I thought you were going to talk on some Financial Ratios :)
ha!!!
one friend wondered aloud why the answer was overwhelmingly black..."useful insights" for sure!!!
have fun "forgetting" people you meet!!! :)
@ Jas B - Naya Saal mubarak. Aur yeh Jas B kya hai. where are Jas A and C then? almost reminds me of Jazzy B. wasnt Jas good enough, short, sweet and saaaxy :-)
@ Yogsma - thanks. I had a hunch you would like the intellectual bent of this post
@ FJ - hhmm patent/copyright. never occured to me! thanks for pointing that to me.
@ Moi the Great - Yes and it is increasingly obvious that you are first on the line of forgetting if 2009 was any yardstick of calculating Moi the great's FAR.
Lol! Jas A aur Jas C took walked the plank, bachi sirf Jas B...aap kehte hain to only Jas kar dete hain...empty mind devil's workshop, karne ko kuch nahin tha to bas change kar diya blog ka naam aur apna naam bhi! :D
here i am leaving bulk comments again :D
FAR par ek kavi ne farmaya hai - hmm, aate jaate khoobsorat aawara raston pe, kabhi kabhi itefaaq se kitne anjaan log mil jate hain. un mein kuch log bhool jate hain kuch yaad reh jate hain.
hmm NEAR puts an interesitng perspective on measuring viral - based on lifetime and adoption speed from consumer perspective rather than reach and spread by number of people.
On the bra colour thing, I say - everybody loves a little scandal! :D let's not sheepishly hide behind a breast cancer awareness excuse.
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