a real-time experiment of the Small World Phenomenon (six degrees of separation) via the medium of a chain letter. |
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Do chain letters work? Chain letters usually say there is no catch. With this experiment, there is a catch. The catch is, you could stand to lose a pound. You could of course also receive your pound back many times over. The uncertainty of the result makes it an experiment. Should you choose to take part, your only effort is to send a one-off payment of a pound and then forward the email to 6 trusted friends. Errrh… that’s it! Past Traditionally chain letters target the greed in us all by promising vast sums in return. They don’t work because the take-up/success rate is very poor – less than 1% if you're lucky. This is because they arrive unsolicited from someone you don’t know. They require you to send money to lots of people, to spend time and more money, photocopying, envelope-stuffing, buying stamps and then actually having to post the damn things. The amount of effort required, means that most people are too lazy to follow it through. Thus the chain fails. Present This experiment is very different. You will have received this email from someone you know personally. You make a one-off payment to the person at the top of the list, remove their name, and add yours to the bottom. Then you forward the email to 6 people you know personally. Which will take 5 minutes of your time and just one pound. Each time the email is forwarded, your name moves up a position. After 5 more generations, your name is at the top of the list and the next people who forward the email will all be sending you a pound. Future As an experiment there are no guarantees of any return. But if you do the maths then you’ll realise that after 6 generations of 6 letters each (that’s 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6), you’re looking at a possible 46,656 people wanting to send you a pound. Obviously this experiment isn't for everyone, so that figure is unrealistic. But even if only 5% participate, then that’s still a tidy little sum for a one pound investment and almost no effort. The reason this letter is likely to work is because you are sending it to people you know - your friends. Therefore it is far more likely that they will do it, because they already know someone who has - you!
Tips for success You would do well to pick your 6 friends as people who already have a PayPal account. Picking someone with a PayPal account already will increase the take-up rate. If you’re not sure, then choose someone who shops on eBay. Most people who use eBay, use PayPal. Don’t put it off. When people put things off, they usually don’t do them at all. Remember, it’s only 5 minutes and 1 pound away. If you are going to forward the email but think you don’t have to pay the £1 and no one will know, then you’d be right. But think about it first. If you are prepared to forward the email, but not the pound, then you’d have to assume everyone else below you would do the same thing. That would mean that when it was time for you to receive the pounds, you would receive nothing. So if you're considering not sending the pound, then perhaps the experiment is not for you. So there it is. You are only five minutes and one measly pound away from taking part in the experiment. Good Luck! |
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on the email, this will give you an editable copy.