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