PITT NEWS (Uni Pittsburgh) -- Apr 11 -- Catch27.com is the latest addition to the list of interactive Web sites for college students, which includes Friendster and Facebook. But, there's a catch, you trade your friends for hotter, smarter ones. Not everyone can join Catch27. "It's kind of an elite, edgy group of hot minds and hot bodies," the spokesperson explained. "If they're not, we kick them off the site." A member must be at least 18, and few are older than 27. A contest will reward people for using social networking and stereotyping to their advantage, Johnson said. "I think people are blind to the fact of how the social world really works, but it is really cruel in a lot of ways." This cruelty stems from the social exchange theory, a combination of behaviorism and economics, according to psychologist Richard Moreland. "One party gives something and another gives a service in exchange."
Mark Brooks: The Carroll sisters are at it again. Catch 27 is fresh, viral, insightful and slightly insane...and follows up GreatBoyFriends.com. Catch27 thrives on a new viral marketing term I'm coining, right here, right now. 'The perception of exclusivity.' I paid a Sonoma winery a visit in 2001 and asked the 5th generation owner where I could get his wines. Most were sold direct... Great, I wanted some, direct. How to? Well, he said, you'll have to get on the email list. OK, here's my email. Nope. I needed to write in with my email address, then I would join a two year waiting list to get onto his 3000 strong email list that buys 90% of his wine each year. My jaw dropped but the guy was for real! Friendster started the ball rolling on this concept in earnest. Gmail followed suit. Now Yahoo 360 is joining the bandwagon by limiting initial signups to 'the inner circle.' It works, it drives people nuts, they talk, and it makes for some mighty cheap advertising.
It's a great marketing tool. Reminds of the days in the playground when the kids with all the cool clothes and gear would exclude the kids that wouldn't be sporting them.
I guess we never really grow out of that need to be in the "in" group. Drives a lot of people nuts.
Posted by: Personal Ads | Apr 17, 2005 at 05:51 PM