By cosying up to the cool kids, that's how. Google set up its Beta as a sort of influence-peddling scheme: It handed out a bunch of accounts to its friends and family and admirers, and allowed each of them to have a few "activation codes" so that they could invite their own friends and admirers in. And so on and so on. The end result? By last week, my circle of high-tech friends was consumed by people frantically sucking up to those who were on the inside, in hopes of someone letting them past the velvet rope. You can't buy buzz like that. What Google realized was that while Americans love to prattle on about the democratic flatness and meritocratic fairness of their country, what they love even more is the ability to lord social power over others like nobleman at the Elizabethan court. It's high-school dynamics as marketing!
Anyway, this freaky little Milgram experiment that Google is conducting has produced a rather funny side effect: Gmail swap. It's an attempt to derail the Buffy-at-the-prom dynamics of Google's marketing scheme by setting up an open trading board. People who want a Gmail account make an offer of something they're willing to trade with people who have invitation codes. If the two agree, then voila! The transaction occurs.
What's most interesting about this exchange is that -- much like Ebay -- it fixes a price on things that you'd otherwise consider intangible or priceless. Here are some of the things people are offering today as a trade for Gmail:
By the way, if anyone here thinks my grumpy little rant here is prompted by my inability to score a Gmail account myself -- you can send your comments to clive.thompson@gmail.com.
I keep thinking the hotly anticipated Google IPO should coincide with the "official" Gmail launch. That being said, I can't help but think the launch is imminent. I've already "invited" 8 people to Gmail and still have 3 in reserve. They just keep upping my invite allowance. As a result, the gmail market has officially crashed.
Posted by: Daejin at June 16, 2004 11:31 AM
Oh, thanks for the link! That's interesting to know.
Posted by: Clive at June 16, 2004 11:34 AM
Now, what they SHOULD do is leave enrollment on an invitation only basis, and allow complaints against email content to affect the sender's sponsors. This would effectively eliminate spam coming from Gmail accounts, since you would never ask a spammer to join Gmail as you would risk losing your own account as soon as they posted anything.
Posted by: marc at June 16, 2004 12:08 PM
Not a bad idea ... use a reputation-management system to keep spammers at bay!
Posted by: Clive at June 16, 2004 2:10 PM
One other thing, is that Gmail is fairly original, at least as e-mail systems go. It looks different, which is a big deal for people who are strictly e-mail animals. So by doing it through the invite system, each person that has an invite, is going to have someone who they know who also uses the system to help them with any questions they may have.
That said, my wife opened her account on Friday. On saturday, she had 3 invites to give out.
Gmail is the first actual competition in the webmail market in years. And from my initial impressions, it's actually innovative. Just from initial use, having mail stored in conversational threads is amazing. It's an idea long past due.
Posted by: Karmakin at June 16, 2004 10:19 PM
Personally, I don't see what the big deal is. Opera's M2 does a decent job doing something similar (not the same).
I've not asked my mate with Gmail for an invite, because I don't need yet another e-mail address. I just don't understand why this is not much more than brilliant marketing on the part of Google.
Posted by: andrea at June 16, 2004 10:43 PM
Well, I certainly do think the nesting of conversations -- and the ability to use Google's killer search technology to look through your old email -- is amazingly useful. My main problem is that, like Andrea, I don't want another email address.
What I'd *love* is to be able to use Google's technology as a front-end for my existing email address. If they ever sell this as a webmail package I'm going to lobby my ISP intensely to adopt it.
Posted by: Clive at June 16, 2004 11:41 PM
I wish I could dump all my e-mail from every address (including work) into gmail, that's one thing I like about my current SBCYahoo! (which upped it's storage capacity 10 fold this week) arrangement, I have 3 addresses that route into it, and they each get a little color code.
Between gmail, and the recent innovations at Blogger (which include free photoblogging and other features) I've decided that Google elected to adopt a prime directive that storage space or costs is no longer a concern for them. Use all the Google space you want! Constraints are for all those other companies.
I got gmail because I use blogger, and I was able to invite 2 people. I invited one friend, and then no one else seemed desperate for it, and none of my real blog readers wanted it. So I went trolling on the swap board. I found my thought process very bizarre. I didn't trust people who wanted to trade something "too nice" and the people who were swaping cool things were all-too-frequently challenged in the ways of spelling, grammar, or punctuation. I became mildly obsessed with giving the invite to someone I felt good about. The demand for the invites made me take the decision of who to give them to very seriously. In the end, I swapped it to someone with decent grammar who promised to buy a meal for a homeless person. Did they? Who knows, I choose to believe that they did, and I feel good about the entire transaction.
Posted by: maya at June 17, 2004 2:45 PM
I also got my Gmail account through blogger
Aparently I didnt log out from a public computer and someone stole my account for a good month (gmails customer service is practically nonexistant by the way) when i finally got it back i had only one invite left. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Nor have I figured out who stole my account.
Posted by: Roshan at June 20, 2004 11:01 PM
I'm not so quick to assume that the invitational beta of gmail is solely for the purpose of building buzz and projecting exclusitivity.
We are just starting to discover how social networking in the context of a large digital communications infrastructure affects our interaction with peers and the ability to discover and utilize new links (people, services, ideas, *.*)
The invitational expansion of gmail (and any other network application) provides a way to observe some aspects of this social interaction between peers. I'm not sure exactly how this information can be used, but I am certain that it provides some valuable feedback that could not be obtained in any other manner.
If they wanted exclusitivity alone they could just as easily setup a lottery or other method that is less cumbersome to build and operate than the use of individually tracked invitations handed out to current members based on as yet unknown factors (some people get more invites more often, and I haven't found a good explanation of why this is)
I like the way they have executed this beta, but I also didn't pay $200+ for an invite on eBay. It's nice to see them ramp up invite frequency to prevent this kind selfish trade in a free service (the gmail market crash).
Posted by: coderman at June 21, 2004 12:44 PM
It's true, this technique for handing out email addresses nicely leverages the power of social networking. It's also possible that since you have to do some social "work" to get an account, you value the service more.
And certainly the guys who founded Hotmail knew all about awesome network effects.
Posted by: Clive at June 21, 2004 12:50 PM
Okay, that kind of sucks. Daejin says they got 11 invites, but I've not gotten ANY yet! I joined probably about a month ago. So, they say if they decide to give me invites, they shall be in my inbox. I have never gotten any of these invites, which doesn't make sense when it seems many others are getting invites... even after they already have them when signing on. I would think they'd be fair and say, "Okay, this person had invites before, but that one didn't. It goes to 'that,' because we are fair here at Google."
Ah, well... suggestions?
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Posted by: absam at July 20, 2004 7:40 AM
I have 5 gmail accounts up for grabs... + 2 used ones....if anyone is interested make me an offer and yes this is legitimate
Posted by: Dave at July 30, 2004 12:54 PM
I have 3 gmail invitations
email me at aks020@yahoo.com
or at amitagarwal02@yahoo.com
with gmail as subject
donate little to me for gmail invitation
i am poor student
Posted by: AMIT AGARWAL at October 28, 2004 6:18 PM
Posted by: Lucy at January 15, 2005 5:34 PM
I keep thinking the hotly anticipated Google IPO should coincide with the "official" Gmail launch. That being said, I can't help but think the launch is imminent. I've already "invited" 8 people to Gmail and still have 3 in reserve. They just keep upping my invite allowance. As a result, the gmail market has officially crashed.
Posted by: Daejin at June 16, 2004 11:31 AM
Oh, thanks for the link! That's interesting to know.
Posted by: Clive at June 16, 2004 11:34 AM
Now, what they SHOULD do is leave enrollment on an invitation only basis, and allow complaints against email content to affect the sender's sponsors. This would effectively eliminate spam coming from Gmail accounts, since you would never ask a spammer to join Gmail as you would risk losing your own account as soon as they posted anything.
Posted by: marc at June 16, 2004 12:08 PM
Not a bad idea ... use a reputation-management system to keep spammers at bay!
Posted by: Clive at June 16, 2004 2:10 PM
One other thing, is that Gmail is fairly original, at least as e-mail systems go. It looks different, which is a big deal for people who are strictly e-mail animals. So by doing it through the invite system, each person that has an invite, is going to have someone who they know who also uses the system to help them with any questions they may have.
That said, my wife opened her account on Friday. On saturday, she had 3 invites to give out.
Gmail is the first actual competition in the webmail market in years. And from my initial impressions, it's actually innovative. Just from initial use, having mail stored in conversational threads is amazing. It's an idea long past due.
Posted by: Karmakin at June 16, 2004 10:19 PM
Personally, I don't see what the big deal is. Opera's M2 does a decent job doing something similar (not the same).
I've not asked my mate with Gmail for an invite, because I don't need yet another e-mail address. I just don't understand why this is not much more than brilliant marketing on the part of Google.
Posted by: andrea at June 16, 2004 10:43 PM
Well, I certainly do think the nesting of conversations -- and the ability to use Google's killer search technology to look through your old email -- is amazingly useful. My main problem is that, like Andrea, I don't want another email address.
What I'd *love* is to be able to use Google's technology as a front-end for my existing email address. If they ever sell this as a webmail package I'm going to lobby my ISP intensely to adopt it.
Posted by: Clive at June 16, 2004 11:41 PM
I wish I could dump all my e-mail from every address (including work) into gmail, that's one thing I like about my current SBCYahoo! (which upped it's storage capacity 10 fold this week) arrangement, I have 3 addresses that route into it, and they each get a little color code.
Between gmail, and the recent innovations at Blogger (which include free photoblogging and other features) I've decided that Google elected to adopt a prime directive that storage space or costs is no longer a concern for them. Use all the Google space you want! Constraints are for all those other companies.
I got gmail because I use blogger, and I was able to invite 2 people. I invited one friend, and then no one else seemed desperate for it, and none of my real blog readers wanted it. So I went trolling on the swap board. I found my thought process very bizarre. I didn't trust people who wanted to trade something "too nice" and the people who were swaping cool things were all-too-frequently challenged in the ways of spelling, grammar, or punctuation. I became mildly obsessed with giving the invite to someone I felt good about. The demand for the invites made me take the decision of who to give them to very seriously. In the end, I swapped it to someone with decent grammar who promised to buy a meal for a homeless person. Did they? Who knows, I choose to believe that they did, and I feel good about the entire transaction.
Posted by: maya at June 17, 2004 2:45 PM
I also got my Gmail account through blogger
Aparently I didnt log out from a public computer and someone stole my account for a good month (gmails customer service is practically nonexistant by the way) when i finally got it back i had only one invite left. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Nor have I figured out who stole my account.
Posted by: Roshan at June 20, 2004 11:01 PM
I'm not so quick to assume that the invitational beta of gmail is solely for the purpose of building buzz and projecting exclusitivity.
We are just starting to discover how social networking in the context of a large digital communications infrastructure affects our interaction with peers and the ability to discover and utilize new links (people, services, ideas, *.*)
The invitational expansion of gmail (and any other network application) provides a way to observe some aspects of this social interaction between peers. I'm not sure exactly how this information can be used, but I am certain that it provides some valuable feedback that could not be obtained in any other manner.
If they wanted exclusitivity alone they could just as easily setup a lottery or other method that is less cumbersome to build and operate than the use of individually tracked invitations handed out to current members based on as yet unknown factors (some people get more invites more often, and I haven't found a good explanation of why this is)
I like the way they have executed this beta, but I also didn't pay $200+ for an invite on eBay. It's nice to see them ramp up invite frequency to prevent this kind selfish trade in a free service (the gmail market crash).
Posted by: coderman at June 21, 2004 12:44 PM
It's true, this technique for handing out email addresses nicely leverages the power of social networking. It's also possible that since you have to do some social "work" to get an account, you value the service more.
And certainly the guys who founded Hotmail knew all about awesome network effects.
Posted by: Clive at June 21, 2004 12:50 PM
Okay, that kind of sucks. Daejin says they got 11 invites, but I've not gotten ANY yet! I joined probably about a month ago. So, they say if they decide to give me invites, they shall be in my inbox. I have never gotten any of these invites, which doesn't make sense when it seems many others are getting invites... even after they already have them when signing on. I would think they'd be fair and say, "Okay, this person had invites before, but that one didn't. It goes to 'that,' because we are fair here at Google."
Ah, well... suggestions?
Posted by: Chris at July 14, 2004 3:03 PM
bilder
Great website, it was actually quite helpful however I was wondering if you had anything pertaining to a particular topic, say for instance Nature. I said it was real helpful for.
Posted by: jade bilder at July 18, 2004 2:11 PM
immobilien
Diese seite ist genauso interessant wie informativ. Viele Grüße!
Posted by: arau at July 19, 2004 7:54 PM
chat
I was surfing along and came across your website. I really enjoyed it. Thanks! This site is very informative. I hope to see more info for. Wishing you all the best!
Posted by: absam at July 20, 2004 7:40 AM
I have 5 gmail accounts up for grabs... + 2 used ones....if anyone is interested make me an offer and yes this is legitimate
Posted by: Dave at July 30, 2004 12:54 PM
I have 3 gmail invitations
email me at aks020@yahoo.com
or at amitagarwal02@yahoo.com
with gmail as subject
donate little to me for gmail invitation
i am poor student
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