ReadWriteEnterprise

This week we all were horrified at seeing John Pike, a University of California at Davis police lieutenant, pepper spray a collection of kneeling student demonstrators. Within hours, it became a meme, complete with amusing images, references to the actual product used by Pike, and clever plays on the cop's name. While I won't link to any of the images in this post, what I will do is provide the complete reference for building your own meme in the future, and examine the various skills and services that you need to get it going. Granted, the pepper spray meme was built on the keyboards of many individuals, acting loosely together. But studying this meme's progress can teach you what you need to know to get your next one out in front and at the top of Google's organic searches.

When you have enough companies trying to ride the viral invite/closed beta wave with closed betas for a business to specialize in viral invites, it's time to pull the plug. Artificial (or real) scarcity imposed by marketing as a promotional gimmick is no reason to spam your friends, folks.

This morning I reached my personal tipping point for the viral invite gimmick. I was already well poised to boil over after the U.S. launch of Spotify, but this morning another service (that I won't encourage by providing a link or name) put me over the edge. Not only is it another bogus "invite only" closed beta, but the company promises faster access if you offer up email addresses for at least three friends.