A Pattern for Critical Mass in the Blogosphere
Written on July 21st, 2008 by Graham
I believe I may have discovered a pattern for achieving critical mass in the blogosphere. Earlier today, I was studying a chart of the growth of the ever scandalous Pay-Per-Post. They’re a really huge company, and have a ton of bloggers. Actually, I’m not sure how many they have since Google declared war on them, but they did have over 100,000 by November of 2007.
Here’s where it gets interesting. To date, Entrecard’s growth has mimicked Pay Per Posts markedly. Here is a graph of Pay-Per-Post’s growth, with Entrecard’s growth overlaid in orange:
As you can see, I’m not talking about a line of best-fit or a “similarity” or anything like that. I am talking about the EXACT same growth pattern, rounded to the nearest user.
Does this mean we’ll have 100,000+ blogs by April? Time will tell. However, if I’m right, and if this is a pattern for achieving critical mass in the blogosphere, then you betcha.
July 21st, 2008 at 9:13 pm
WOW! Look at that Entrecard growth… I guess Entrecard is gaining popularity by the day. Wondering why? It`s not just about the blogs, it`s also about the promos, the EC credits, the incentives, and the contests, the traffic that you receive from making drops, and the prompt customer service that has attracted many bloggers to jump aboard. Any blogger can join entrecard – even the new bloggers. As long as the blog conforms to the requirements / TOS, there`s no problem.
As for the 100,000+ by April, well, I`m keeping my fingers crossed. Wootttt!!!
July 21st, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Most probably it could hit that mark in record time. Entrecard at the moment is like a drug for a lot of newbie bloggers who rely on Entrecard for traffic. It is also home to a lot of well-established and also new but very promising blogs which no one would’ve seen if not for the Entrecard widget that it carries.
But what about the scaling issues? A new server or a mirror server somewhere out of ThePlanet would be great.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
You will get there before April! You better anyway!
July 21st, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Your going to make it! You guys “Rock”!
July 21st, 2008 at 11:23 pm
well, I just hope that Google would not declare war on Entrecard as what they did to PPP. Being a sour grape, I would nit be surprised if they were to do that…
Anyway, keep it moving Entrecard!
July 21st, 2008 at 11:43 pm
they would have no reason to.
PayPerPost was misleading the entire blogosphere by encouraging, bribing if you will, members to write content on behalf of paying companies, who would publish links and reviews purportedly honestly but in fact the complete opposite.
We, on the other hand, are just trying to help bloggers succeed.
Night and day.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Well that;s good but i know of a site that also has blog but a combination of many social bookmarking features and had increase their membership of a 100,000 + in two months only..
July 21st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
what site is that? I’m curious…
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 am
“Presently Buzzbot have a membership of more 100,000 + since its launching which was a pre-build registration for only two (2) months., its not far to 500,000 new members target, given that each 100 thousand members will refer just 2 individuals or site. ”
I have no confirmation of that, just quoting the guy’s site, but I’ll look into it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:38 am
HaHa, it’s a scam. Do not install that crap or you will forever regret it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 am
I just recently joined the evil Pay-Per-Post just to see if they’d even accept me. They denied me the first time around but ever since Google just decided to strip me of my PR months ago I thought eh, why not. So far I’m more impressed with Entrecard.
Adding SezWho was one of the best improvements yet. People are actually stopping to comment instead of just drop, click and run. I think Entrecard’s growth will begin to change a little bit. More people are talking about the advertising/social network that Entrecard has become.
I’ve met a lot of great bloggers here and I have found a lot of interesting reads. I usually find a new blog to read anywhere between 5 and 50 times a day.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:13 am
I think that some of entrecards growth is because of payperpost members. I would say if I visit 10 blogs in my inbox chances are 2/3 are pay per post members. I know them by “social cardsters badge” or just posts they have taken because I see them around. Maybe it is because us pay per post people like to help each other I don’t know.
I like entrecard. I read about when it first launched but didn’t know what the heck to do so I waited until a few months later when I saw more and more blogs have the entrecard widget then signed up all my blogs. This is much better as far community goes than blog explosion.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:32 am
I think the obvious PPP blogs should be stripped of their Entrecard ranking as well. Stop kidding people, most of you never used any of the products or services you post about. Take a bit of advice, the ppp sponsors really don’t care if anyone reads your post, they are paying for the blacklink. Here’s what you do. After every crappy PPP you make, take the time to actually write something interesting and make another post. Some review networks actually require a 1:3 ratio of sponsored posts to real posts, but you get around that by simply joining 2 or more ppp networks.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:41 am
Yes, Graham, I do believe you’re on a growth curve that could put you over the 100K mark by April. But with that comes the growing pains of keeping up with that user base. And keeping the ones you have nurtured to date. The question is though, what percentage of that number is still active? It does you no good to have 99,000 inactive users (unless you get your thrills from talking about 100K). Keep focusing on improving the network and you’ll get good growth.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:41 am
I hope your right turnip but if turns out positively and millions will be drawn to it in a next few months . Then i will be the one to LOL . Dont be a judge , use your analytic mind . Then if your right its a scam , then i will applaud you.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 am
EC has done virtually nothing to work my nerves, while PPP makes me want to hurt something every day. I have such an urge to write little fiction vignettes to mock the products. The urge grows stronger every day.
I’m very naughty.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:57 am
Graham, that’s a pretty typical curve that applies to just about anything: From bacteria reproduction rates to growth of organizations. Everything putters along rather nicely and smoothly until it reaches a certain critical mass point when growth becomes exponential.
EntreCard appears to be nearing that point. but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The curve is always the same. the amount of time it takes to reach that critical mass point is what varies.
Cheers!
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Way to go Entrecard!
I think every blog should have an entrecard in it
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
Interesting pattern. But the growth is always exponential when things come to blogging. I’m not sure whether EC will get to 10000 mark in April. But it will get to that mark. It will be interesting to know how EC will keep up with popularity.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Growing at PPP’s rate is an accomplishment — congrats Graham!
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
As a new EC user, I am really satisfied with how much traffic it has brought my site. I am sure the number of EC users will surpass that of PPP.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:10 am
Night and day is right! I hope that EC does get that many members by April. Do we old timers (Ok, so I joined in January) get special benefits for being long time members? hehehehe
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:52 am
I would like to go back on the comment of turnip that Buzzbot is a scam. Its unfair for anybody to judge a site or the owner itself as a scam or a scammer. Before anybody could accused a person a scammer or a site as scam there must be sufficient proof or evidence to say such claim. Before Buzzbot was launched it was already accused of being a scam, because of the claim of Buzzbot that it could upgrade the worldwide internet at a flip of a switch. Then came the launched it did happen the software in/or the Buzzbot is operational . This new software would make you interact with any site in the whole wide world.
So the accusation was a false. Now what is the “real thing” that this site would grow a thousand and million times is the “upgrade” imagining you could interact with any sites,. and mind you again the “best thing ” the revenue will be shared with the members. Why will you not join when you could cover the whole blogosphere and be part of the revenue , this would really be a pattern of critical mass in the blogosphere .
July 28th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Great…..! ET very nice to higher may traffich,Thanks
July 31st, 2008 at 9:22 am
Thanks for your information regarding Pay Per Post’s growth. It’s really very ineresting!
August 5th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Has SezWho helped with this?