In February, I was browsing through Facebook as I usually do, making quick checks of friend’s statuses, posts and the like. I came across an update on my newsfeed. It seemed that one of my friends become a fan of a page by the name of “MY SISTER SAID IF I GET ONE MILLION FANS SHE WILL NAME HER BABY MEGATRON.” Being the genius I am, I quickly determined the purpose of the page. I clicked the link which led me to the fan page and found that it claimed near 500,000 fans. I was amazed and amused. I became a fan.

This page now boasts 1,443,225 fans, no joke. Note: at one point, this fan page was mentioned on Bored.com.

Frankly, this is just one of many pages whose purpose is simplistic or just plain random. Another one that deserves mention is “If 50,000 people join, my mom will quit smoking.” (also a fan of this page as well) Keep in mind, that these groups generally have very low levels of participation.

So what is the takeaway here?

People love to be part of movements, of any sort. It seems the more ridiculous, the quicker the movement builds. (Chatroulette’s growth may also be explained by this concept)

Here lies an opportunity for an interesting marketing experiment. I will end my post on that thought.

What to read or watch next

• Kanye West Spitting New Material At Facebook HQ (Video)
• 25 Things I Hate About Facebook

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