Nova Spivak has injected a meme propagation test into the blogosphere. Call me a contrarian, but I am annoyed. For one, I don't look forward to sifting though endless instances of this nasty meme over the next few days.

Other than answering the questions below, please do not alter the information, layout or format of this post in order to preserve the integrity of the data in this experiment (this will make it easier for searchers and automated bots to find and analyze the results later). Source.

Hey Jamie, don't mean to annoy anyone!!! But this is going to be interesting actually, because if the thing spreads enough it will provide an interesting dataset to look at how information flows through the blogosphere. For example, which blogs will result in the most spread? How quickly will it spread through various segments and geographic regions? Do "spreaders" have certain demographic similarities? Could this help to identify the most influential blogs? Furthermore, the concept of the open dataset, using a common GUID, but enabling everyone to host their own data is interesting. I think this same method could be used to do surveys on blogs, for example.

Anyway, sorry you aren't participating!

Nova

one more point. What makes this experiment different is the combination of time stamp, geo location, and social-network affiliation data around each instance of the meme. While you could analyze the spread of any old URL, it would be difficult if not impossible to get the time, geographic, and social vector data around each instance of the URL by just looking at blogs. That information is hard, if not impossible, to infer in most cases.

I am a party pooper. I think what I really need is a front porch, a rocking chair, and a newspaper.

The intention of the meme test is noble, but it is not necessary for people to use any particular format in order to properly track a meme. With some programming and active harvesting, time, geo, social net data can be acquired.

Probably the trickiest data point would be the "I found this on" -- this would require some work in dealing with the numerous forms of citation in the blogosphere: spotter, by way of, etc. Often an origin point is just referenced with the root url: I found this on slashdot. I can see the work involved here, but it would be worth it. Time is also tricky, and aggregators such as blo.gs could be harvested during the study to properly timestamp the meme instances.

It is not even necessary to use an "artificial" meme and a prominent initial vector. A naturally-occurring meme might make a better candidate for study. Some of the best, most farkish or waxyish memes are easy to identify, especially considering how they come and go in only a few days time.

Take "star wars kid", for instance. This one even had the "prominent blogger magnification effect" from Andy Baio.

- JP