21 January 2009
Win a free pass to any Carsonified event!
Would you like to win a FREE seat to any Carsonified 2009 event? These include:
* FOWA Miami – Jason Fried, Gary Vaynerchuk, Joel Spolsky, 280 North, Mike Arrington…
* FOWA Dublin – Blaine Cook, David Heinemeier Hansson, Matthew Ogle …
* FOWD London – Folkert Gorter, Jim Coudal, Mark Boulton, Molly Holzschlag …
* FOWD NYC – Previous speakers included: Hillman Curtis, Dan Mall, Paul Boag, Derek Powazek, Nick La..
* FOWA London – Previous speakers included: Mark Zuckerberg, Kevin Rose, Tim Bray, Kathy Sierra…
* 1-day intimate workshops – Eric Meyer, Dan Cederholm, Daniel Burka, Tara Hunt & Ryan Singer
* Fuel London – Previous speakers included Tara Hunt, Richard Moross and Paul Boag
* FOM London
All you need to do is enter Carsonified’s first ever Twittercomp! Just follow these instructions:
1. Tweet the following phrase: Please retweet this to help me go to http://bit.ly/10Sgh or http://bit.ly/4w7t (Rules: http://bit.ly/OxIK)
2. When you get 20 retweets let us know by posting your details in the comments below.
A winner will be picked at random and announced on Monday 9th February.
Good luck :)
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Steven Lambert
# January 21, 2009 - 12:36 pm
Sounds good.
Am not on twitter though, is that bad and wrong or just lazy ?
Sulcalibur
# January 21, 2009 - 1:26 pm
I don’t think I have 20 friends :P lol I’ll give it a go though. I’d be shocked if I get even 1 retweet.
Dave
# January 21, 2009 - 1:37 pm
Hmm. Encourage users to spam Twitter with a pyramid scheme to promote your conference. And it doesn’t even guarantee you free entry. Doesn’t show much creativity or integrity, does it?
Andrew Ingram
# January 21, 2009 - 1:49 pm
I follow a helluva lot of web dev people, this is going to be incredibly annoying. And you don’t even guarantee entrance?
Jonnywb
# January 21, 2009 - 1:49 pm
Sounds good to me, I’ll give it a go.
Got one already :)
jhills
# January 21, 2009 - 1:55 pm
This is already getting very irritating as my twitter feed clogs up with this Carsonified pyramid scheme spam. One winner picked at random? Surely there are better ways to promote conferences.
wireframebox
# January 21, 2009 - 1:58 pm
@jhills – there’s no need to be bitter just because I have RT’s that you already!
Simon Green
# January 21, 2009 - 2:04 pm
@jhills: you’re going to try anyway right? ;)
Matthew Lawson
# January 21, 2009 - 2:11 pm
What a nice idea!
Shame I have NO friends to get to Retweet! :(
But have done it anyway…does any one want to retweet my latest tweet?
Ryan
# January 21, 2009 - 2:29 pm
@jhills – I think it’s bizarre you’re calling this a ‘Carsonified pyramid scheme spam’. We’re not forcing anyone to Tweet – it’s completely their choice. They want to go to a Carsonified event and are tweeting about it. What’s the problem?
On a side note, I think it’s interesting how the people who disagree with the things we do (which is totally fine) rarely put a link to their site when they comment.
jhills
# January 21, 2009 - 2:58 pm
@Ryan – Because that is essentially what this is. An exponentially larger spam pyramid with one potential winner, in this case to shamelessly plug your event.
Furthermore, I fail to see what my site has to do with it. I trust however that you feel better now that it has been linked to?
Luke
# January 21, 2009 - 3:00 pm
@Ryan Damn you and your pyramid scheme!
Kidding. I liked the golden ticket comp better though – props for that. Thought that was well put together.
Andrew Ingram
# January 21, 2009 - 3:02 pm
A pyramid scheme is usually completely optional too, the point is that you’re providing an incentive to people to benefit from forwarding a message which you specify (and the message itself encourages that it be forwarded again). And obviously as more people do it, the pool of people who aren’t already involved decreases meaning that early adopters stand more chance of reaching the 20.
The only difference is that there’s no real cost to getting involved, other than annoying all your friends.
It’s an interesting marketing idea, but I don’t like what it encourages.
Riddle
# January 21, 2009 - 3:07 pm
This is exactly what I think of your idea.
You can check my site too, I linked myself up.
Richard Birkhead
# January 21, 2009 - 3:14 pm
@Ryan: You’re not forcing anyone, but you’re encouraging people. It’s as bad. And it is spam – of course it’s spam. Twitter asks “what are you doing?” not “what commercial venture would you like to promote?” and then drop it in front of lots of people who haven’t asked for it.
Frances
# January 21, 2009 - 3:15 pm
This is such a horrible, transparent, idea. Encouraging people to annoy their friends for a very small opportunity to win a free ticket to one of your events? It’s marketing ploys like this that ruin applications like twitter.
I’m with Jeremy Keith on this one – would happily remove all and any friends that take part.
“Viral” marketing at it’s worst.
wireframebox
# January 21, 2009 - 3:16 pm
@jhills – It’s just marketing at the end of the day, and I’m a sucker for it. Let’s not forget that this is largely the basis of the industry we work in (whether you like it or not).
Simon Green
# January 21, 2009 - 3:25 pm
This is exactly what carsonifed teach in their events, how to draw users through new ways, marketing at the end of the day. it’s naieve of anyone to suggest that you could think of this in any other way, but that doesn’t make it bad! if anything this will have success in publicity now through it’s bad reception
Iain Collins
# January 21, 2009 - 3:31 pm
Sorry Ryan, I agree a Twitter spam Ponzi scheme (with lottery element!) is a not a good idea and seems sleazy (quite at odds with the previous image I had of Carsonified).
I think it’s bad for much the same reason other pyramid schemes and regular spam is bad, and that it manages to combine some of the elements of both.
I don’t think the quality (or even non-existence) of people’s websites has anything to do with whether it’s a good idea or not. Having a shiny website is not an indicator of superior moral character nor does the lack of one render criticism invalid.
David Singleton
# January 21, 2009 - 3:34 pm
This is such brazen spam and it _is_ a pyramid scheme.
It’s also quite amusing that a number of people on your blogroll, who’s opinions i assume you respect, also think this is a terrible idea.
Matthew Lawson
# January 21, 2009 - 3:38 pm
Oooow dont you just love a debate!
Come on people i think you should take it with the fun it intended!
As a wise man once said;
“Chill your beans!”
Hannah
# January 21, 2009 - 3:38 pm
“Creativity with integrity” eh?
This competition lacks creativity, and encouraging people to spam via twitter doesn’t exactly scream integrity.
Plus, you’re not even guaranteeing a ticket to those who successfuly get 20 retweets?
Nil point.
jhills
# January 21, 2009 - 3:41 pm
@wireframebox @Simon Green – Oh yes, it’s definitely marketing and arguably effective. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea either, especially when this level of spam is involved on a medium such as twitter where the only filter available is to follow/unfollow. Riddle (and Jeremy Keith) summed it up nicely.
PJ
# January 21, 2009 - 3:41 pm
@Simon Green – If this is what Carsonified promote at their events I don’t see any reason to waste my (or my employers) money on attending such events. It seems rather tacky and an abuse of the spirit of what Twitter is supposed to be about.
Matthew Lawson
# January 21, 2009 - 3:55 pm
I think they may under estimated the level of dislike to this Competition but I do think they have got the point!!!
Relax people, everyone makes mistakes!
Ryan
# January 21, 2009 - 4:01 pm
Everyone who disagrees – I hear you and I appreciate you voicing your opinion.
I’m not sure why some of you are calling our integrity into question. “Integrity” means being open and honest. The proposition is simple: Tweet a phrase if you want to enter a competition for a free ticket. Don’t want to enter, don’t tweet.
I’m happy to be wrong here, but I just don’t understand your point.
The whole point of Twitter is that you only see Tweets from people you *want* to follow. If they choose to tweet something, it’s completely up to them and has very little to do with you. You can unfollow if you choose.
Simon Green
# January 21, 2009 - 4:02 pm
/me chills :D
Simon Green
# January 21, 2009 - 4:03 pm
/me invites the room to chill also :)
Tom
# January 21, 2009 - 4:11 pm
Ryan, here’s the point: before you do things, think about whether they’re going to make the world better or worse. In this case all you’re doing is encouraging people to spam Twitter for your gain. Is that going to create goodwill for Carsonified, or is it just going to irritate a hell of a lot of people simultaneously?
It seems like almost everything you guys do is a mis-step these days.
Ben Darlow
# January 21, 2009 - 4:13 pm
And that is why I don’t follow you any more, Ryan.
You’re wholeheartedly missing the point. Just because we as Twitter users have the ability to unfollow somebody who is behaving antisocially by spamming around these links doesn’t free you from culpability in encouraging the spam in the first place. That’s what integrity (or the lack of) is about, not simply being “honest and open”.
Simon Green
# January 21, 2009 - 4:14 pm
Tom: It seems like almost everything you guys do is a mis-step these days
Ouch! Low puch!
Steven Lambert
# January 21, 2009 - 4:14 pm
One of Carsonified’s main business strategies (i’d imagine) would be to promote their brand and events, getting as much contact with users and visitors to their site.
Even if you may or may not agree with the principal of Twitter and what they have chosen, 29 blog posts in 4 hours and probably thousands of twitter people visiting their pages, it has been an
effective marketing tool to drive traffic.
You may now continue with the twitter debate.
Bradley Wright
# January 21, 2009 - 4:15 pm
Integrity actually means, in the overwhelming results of my cursory search of the web: “of moral soundness”. “Open and honest” cannot really be construed as the same thing.
Regardless, I don’t find this to be particularly creative, as Facebook apps such as “zombies” or “vampires” demonstrated months ago (and pyramid schemes before them), and is extremely intrusive to those unfortunate enough to have Twitter connections who tweet for free tickets. I mean, sure you can unfollow them after the fact, but you have to have a marketing message in your feed first.
I wonder how it would go down if people who didn’t like this campaign forwarded all the re-tweets to the @spam user on Twitter?
Ryan
# January 21, 2009 - 4:18 pm
“Ryan, here’s the point: before you do things, think about whether they’re going to make the world better or worse.”
@Tom – Is it just me, or does it seem a *little* extreme to say that this competition is making the world a worse place?
AJ
# January 21, 2009 - 4:21 pm
First of all, I am still confused as to how this can be misconstrued as a pyramid scheme. It’s not like Ryan’s asking you to trick all your friends into coming to a party and then trying to sell them FOWA Tupperware. You are just tweeting about something you want to attend, and asking your friends to help you spread the word. 1) You don’t have to tweet about it in the first place and 2) Your friends don’t have to RT – if they think it’s stupid then they just won’t do it.
Secondly, some debate I can understand, it’s one of the reasons I love the Carsonified blog, but the brazen level of self righteous comments is not only hilariously myopic, it is just embarrassing. I love PJ’s, “I’m just gonna take my ball and go home” blurb. Really? Carsonified has a history of producing quality events, providing great information to developers and designers everywhere (on this blog as well as ThinkVitamin), and developing a couple solid apps (that I use all the time) in DropSend and Matt BUT this one little one day Twitter contest that you don’t agree with will cause you to dismiss all that and insinuate that Carsonified is somehow a company that lacks integrity. Wow, that is one sad, precipitous leap in logic.
Tom
# January 21, 2009 - 4:22 pm
I didn’t say “much worse”, just “worse”. Since you did this, lots of people have got pissed off with all the spam they’re suddenly seeing on Twitter. Does that not make things worse, just a little bit, for just a little while? Does it not harm Carsonified for their name to be indelibly associated with that moment of irritation, however slight, however brief?
wireframebox
# January 21, 2009 - 4:29 pm
@AJ – Amen
Simon Green
# January 21, 2009 - 4:29 pm
If the retweets are “pissing people off” they need to reassess how they look at the world. there are much more important things to worry about!
Bradley Wright
# January 21, 2009 - 4:33 pm
(T)here are much more important things to worry about!
Like winning free tickets? Or perhaps commenting six times on the same blog post?
jhills
# January 21, 2009 - 4:38 pm
“The whole point of Twitter is that you only see Tweets from people you *want* to follow. If they choose to tweet something, it’s completely up to them and has very little to do with you. You can unfollow if you choose.”
@Ryan – So what I should do is unfollow everyone I have hitherto been enjoying tweeting with because of this relentless spam? It has everything to do with users because it’s their feeds/phones/pages that are getting cluttered with this inane copy and paste job. That is the point you are missing.
mike kus
# January 21, 2009 - 5:14 pm
Well it started off a small red lump in my groin area which was mildly irritating. Three weeks on from discovering the lump it has now developed into a snake like red line that stretches from my groin to my… oh sorry wrong blog.
Emily
# January 21, 2009 - 5:30 pm
I like free tickets!
cjagers
# January 21, 2009 - 7:21 pm
Ryan,
While I don’t agree with the tone of the negative feedback here, I think there are some very good insights that would be wise to listen to. This is the essence of being “user” centric rather than “principle” centric. If users don’t like it … it is a problem. I don’t think there is a problem with integrity here, just creativity. It seems that a better viral campaign could be arrived at.
I really admire your continued transparency by allowing open discussion here. It makes your blog fun to visit and provides valuable lessons for people trying to learn.
Melissa Leon
# January 21, 2009 - 9:28 pm
I came by Carsonified once again today to read the latest blog and comments and what did I find …. the haters! Once again they are back to make there incredibly judgmental attacks and Ryan and the Carsonified team. I was caught off guard by a few comments. “Seems everything is a mis-step lately”. This is interesting selling dropsend, developing MATT in 4 days, having FOWA in Miami with great speakers, booked solid until April with consulting projects. Your right Carsonified is defintely making some mis-steps. Ryan maybe you should speak with a consultant and get some adivce as to how you can turn your company around.
The other thing I though was strange was the attack on the Carsonified team’s integrity. By the way thank you for the Webster’s definition of integrity. Can you also give me the Webster’s definition of Twitter as well? Carsonified is one of the few people out there openly and honestly sharing their experiences to better the online Web 2.0 community. If you don’t take value from Ryan’s openness that does not mean you have to personally attack the man’s integrity.
Anyways Ryan and the Carsonified crew keep doing what you guys do!
Carsonified » Blog Archive » Twitter Competition: Why we were wrong
# January 21, 2009 - 9:40 pm
[...] Our recent Twitter competition caused quite an uproar. So much in fact, that it made me think that we might’ve made a mistake. After taking time to reflect, I believe the competition was a bad idea. And here’s why. [...]
Sulcalibur
# January 21, 2009 - 10:14 pm
Wow man, watch the news, worse things are happening than this. Relax already.
Phil Ricketts
# January 25, 2009 - 10:19 pm
Hi! I posted a video on youtube for the WonderPass competition. The previous user (annoyingly) didn’t close his tag which means I couldn’t submit my own comment on that blog entry.
My video is: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkpjcf8NCKc
Phil
» Carsonified Tries to be Fun, Designers Cry Foul - sugarenia.com : Web Standards, Accessibility & other Girly Stuff
# March 25, 2009 - 5:19 pm
[...] I’d be more critical on Carsonified for their latest spamming failure, but this? Come on people. Where’s the fun in being a web designer anymore? [...]