Software Origins: How Tell A Friend Script Started

May.06, 2009 in Internet

How many times have you received an email joke and also forwarded it to all your email contacts? How many times have you tried convincing friends to watch a movie that you have seen for several times? You might not be conscious about it but you have already participated in several marketing campaigns. Spreading rumors, fads, and email jokes are just some examples of viral marketing. Traditions, religion, and superstitions are also transmitted in this manner. Hence, viral marketing is not really new as a concept. It is also not always commercial in purpose. The development of sophisticated marketing tools such as the tell a friend html can be traced back to ancient cultural phenomena.

Humans are social beings. The need for community belongingness is very strong that it is an important factor in determining the behaviors of individuals. This need is also apparent in online communities. People who are socially connected tend to share information in many levels. Anything that is interesting, useful, or entertaining tend to be shared and transmitted much faster and more successfully than boring things. A really funny email joke is an excellent example of this. This same concept of spreading information is the fundamental principle that guided the development of marketing tools such as the php tell a friend.

The earliest versions of tell a friend html were commonly used by social networking websites. The success of social networking sites can largely be attributed to this software. It allows the instantaneous sending of invitations and updates. It allows the efficient extraction and dissemination of data among members of social networks. This same concept is now being used by many ordinary online marketers and start-up entrepreneurs. Many free open source software resources have become available that the price of referral software has drastically dropped. Some simpler versions are even available for free.