A Writer Seeks WOM Case Studies

I received an email from a writer needing concrete information showcasing the rapid snowball effect of Word-of-Mouth. Read Randy’s note below and if you have something worthwhile to share, leave it in the comments section.

I'm doing research for a novel and wondered if you could direct me to a link, book or case study of a WOM phenomenon. Specifically, I'm looking for a 24-48 hour phenomenon of anything--product, movie, internet video, link, or rumor--that was spread to millions via WOM/email.

Thanks,
Randy

Comments

[LukePDQ]

Randy,

I believe the term "Crowdsourcing" is just such a WOM/email/blog phenomenom.
Jeff Howe from Wired mag coined the phrase.

Here's the speed of propagation.
I read the article and awaited Jeff's separate launch of his website www.crowdsourcing.com on Thurs 25th. May to discuss the evolution.

three weeks ago - google search for crowdsourcing = 3
Last Thurs - google search = 182,000
last Monday - google search = 491,000
Today - google search = 529,000

Although it's now flattening out, pretty impressive, I would say.

[Nathan]

While I don't have any direct numbers they most likely could be found. In the realm of gaming, a "celebrity" came to life based off of World of Warcraft.

That person was Leeroy Jenkins. He had a video posted online that definitely caught fire via WOM and eventually ended up on Xfire banners, and if i recall correctly, was even added into the popular gameshow Jeopardy.

[Brooks Lambert]

Hey Randy,

I think we have a great case study for you... 3 not so experienced guys sent an e-mail to Gizmodo.com to see if they were interested in posting our product and in a couple of days we had 2M hits which as lead to world-wide distribution and alot of media exposure in less than 6 months, without spending a penny on marketing or advertising.

If you think this fits, I can be reached at 408/309-1834 cell, or [email protected]

Cheers,

Brooks