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a real-time experiment of the Small World Phenomenon (six degrees of separation) via the medium of a chain letter.

To ensure that these instructions have not been altered in any way, they have been hosted on this public website.

AUTHENTICATION

Experiment started :
Friday 17th September 2004 13:42 GMT


 

Six degrees of separation
Small world phenomenon
Chain letters
PayPal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other things you could do with your pound...
Buy a Lottery Ticket with a 14 million-to-one chance of winning
Buy a Cheeseburger at McDonalds and risk getting Coronary Heart Disease, Diabetes, Prostate Cancer and Depression, not to mention becoming addicted to the stuff.

Play Pool in a Pub. No honestly, that's what it costs these days for a single game!

And, err... that's about it, let's face it there is naff all you can do with a pound these days it's worth so little.
 

 

 

Do chain letters work?
Here’s your chance to find out.

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!

Step by Step Instructions

Send a payment of £1 (UK Pounds Sterling) via PayPal to the email address at the top of the list.

 
  • Enter the payment details into as shown below:

Be sure to enter the details exactly as shown above.
You can't send money in return for nothing, so the payment is in return for being added to a mailing list. This list will be created for you by PayPal.
The only person who will have you on their list will be the one person you sent your pound to. You won't get spammed from this experiment.
Edit the email.
 
  • Click on the email, this will give you an editable copy.
    (Make sure the Link and the List are in the new email, if not copy and paste the information into a new email.)
  • Remove the email headers that are created when you forward an email.
  • Next, remove the message your friend sent you and replace it with your own.
  • Finally, remove the email at the top and then ADD your email address at the bottom of the list.

Click here for an example

 

Forward the email to 6 of your friends.
 
  • Make sure they are good friends, as you really need them to take part for this to work.
That’s it.
 
  • Aside from keeping a check on your email to see how long it takes the pounds to start rolling in.

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!