08 December 2011

Take this lollipop

What do you think is the biggest lie people tell nowadays? We all do it, several times a day, never even thinking about it: I have read and agree to the terms and conditions.
In the “real” world, we panic when someone hands us a contract to sign, but online we do it without even glancing over it. We might think it’s not important or that the Internet doesn’t bound us to anything, that we are protected by anonymity, but do we think in the same way when we put our private information “out there” and foolishly expect no one to use it?



Social networking has integrated itself in our day-to-day lives and is as common as breakfast, lunch and dinner. But once in a while some brand new “discovery” hits us like a hammer and we start wondering – for a while – if our virtual social life could influence our real one.

One such eye-opener has been a simple Facebook App. Its name couldn’t be more obvious and revealing about its content: “Take this lollipop”. Its creator, Jason Zada, put it together as a Halloween project, unknowingly developing the fastest growing app on Facebook. What made 3.5 mil people use the app in just a week? It was as simple as a snowball effect.