Hi Adam. Lots of people have called StumbleCards spam. While recent copycats have been adding Adsense or links to their sites, your intentions were less obvious. Why did you create StumbleCards?

I was reading about an online viral campaign that involved solving a mystery. People were given clues to work out, some very abstract and random. Yet the buzz it generated, inspired people to interact with the viral and pushed them to solve the mystery. I felt inspired by this communal, online type of event and thought maybe I could create my own. Being a seasoned Stumbler I thought, wow I would love to stumble onto something like this, a mystery to work out or a puzzle to solve.

As for the content, I’ve always liked collecting trading cards, zines etc. and thought why not create a digital set of cards that people could collect and trade online. Some I would make easy to find and others I would bury deep in the web.

It’s fair to say that no one invents a viral. Sometimes ideas just catch on and spread. When you were making the first StumbleCards though, did you expect this to explode?

I did think I was onto something new in StumbleUpon. However I thought that Stumblers who were into collecting and solving puzzles might be in the minority for that audience. So no, I didn’t anticipate the way the cards took off.

Since you launched the concept, lots of copycats have appeared and flooded the SU system. I’ve read some reviews that are less than flattering about the person who invented this meme. Do you have anything to say to them?

I thought there was a chance people would copy the idea; I just didn’t think they would do such a blatantly bad job of it. My only gripe with the copycats is that they are most likely creating these ugly and even offensive versions intentionally, as a means of killing off the meme or gaming StumbleUpon. The original spirit of the idea is now lost, with most people calling it spam. This was never my intention!

Many of the early reviews to your StumbleCards were positive. What do you attribute that too, the quality of the artwork, the fact the meme was new or other factors?

Maybe it was the quality of the design or the new idea, as these were the first cards to hit the web. The reviews started to turn negative when the copycats came along. The fact of the matter is the original cards are being stumbled less because I have deliberately made them harder to find.

Most people’s experiences of StumbleCards have been through the copycat versions whose sole aim is to upset the StumbleUpon community by spreading their versions as quickly as possible.

People seem to be attributing this meme to SEOs or online marketers but from my own investigations, you come from an artistic or web design background. In fact your website doesn’t offer any marketing services at all. Do you find it strange that the first StumbleUpon viral came from a non-marketer?

I don’t think it’s strange at all. I’m a web designer so it’s important that I have at least a basic understanding of viral marketing. However, my intentions were always coming from a desire to inspire, entertain and engage Stumblers in the hope they might participate. I don’t have anything to sell or advertise, only the idea itself.

When the meme first started there was a definite sense of excitement for some users, who were confused by this viral and keen to see where it was going. Since then, a backlash has developed as the fakes overtook the system, and the meme seemed little else than a way to game the StumbleUpon system. So tell us now, is this going somewhere?

I have created a set of 25 original uP’n’@tOm StumbleCards. My hope is that for those Stumblers who are genuinely interested in collecting the set, will ignore the fakes and go on to find the original 25. To those Stumblers that would like to participate, not all the cards will be easy to find, but isn’t that what collecting is all about? No one wants it to be too easy… it kind of spoils the fun.

As to where they are going, I can’t say too much right now. Unfortunately there may be more fakes, there isn’t much I can do about that. But I know there are people out there who would like to participate and will go searching for the cards nonetheless. Maybe it’s because they have a keen sense of adventure and would like to solve a mystery, just like me.

Thanks Adam and good luck with the game.

Technorati Tags: stumblecard, stumblecards, stumbleupon, viral, viral-marketing

The first point though is that StumbleUpon accepts advertising. The StumbleCard viral could form a blueprint for another company wishing to use StumbleUpon for their own approved campaigns. By following the sponsored route you would be supporting Stumbleupon and answer many of the critics who see virals as spam. To be clear; I don’t see Stumbleupon as a place to push Adsense or affiliate marketing but I can definitely see it as a place to build buzz for a new product, company or film.

People Like to Be Entertained

There were many positive comments at the beginning of this viral. People like to be entertained and be a part of something out of the ordinary. The characteristic of a good marketing plan is that it engages the audience. If you come up with a boring and transparent idea, people will soon turn off. You have to break the mold and create some genuine excitement.

StumbleUpon Landing Pages

StumbleCards appeared on a white background with no trace of the usual website features, such as navigation. The layout guaranteed the user’s attention and let them know this was not just another web page. The logo and page language were designed to directly target the StumbleUpon user. In effect these were landing pages that had been optimized for the StumbleUpon audience.

Images Are Everything

The meme was started with the following two cards. However the first card to truly take off, with 195 reviews was a copycat, a vivid Joker image (now offline). StumbleUpon users are very visual; images seem to be bookmarked as often as posts on the site. It would be fair to assume that the quality of images played a significant part in the viral taking hold.

Multiple URLs Are Required

The creator of the StumbleCards attempted to launch all the cards from a single URL. The problem here is that StumbleUpon has controls and limits on the number of submissions per URL. Soon his cards were not showing up on tag pages and other sites were dominating the results. To be more successful, it is clear you should use several different sites and web addresses. This is also allowed under the SU advertisers TOS:

Can I promote multiple URLs?
Yes, you may promote as many different URLs as you wish. They many be on the same or different domains. To promote a new URL, you can create a new campaign.

Virals Must Move Quickly

As David Hornik suggested at FOO Camp ’06, continued growth requires the virus to morph. We can see that to some extent with the anti-StumbleCards however this should have happened quicker with the main concept. When users first saw the cards many were intrigued, wondering where this was going? Without the next step they were left to conclude the worse, that this was just another attempt to game Stumbleupon for traffic.

Virals in the social space need to have a clear game plan and move quickly, far quicker than offline campaigns.

Virals Need to Deliver

When a user clicks on a great headline, they expect to read a quality article. All buzz and no content makes users feel suckered. In the same way a great viral idea needs to deliver. The user needs some closure at the end of the event. With the StumbleCard viral, users are encouraged to collect all the cards. Why? There is an implicit suggestion that you can win something. One idea here would be to tie your promotion into a competition or giveaway. Rewarding people for their participation is a positive end to any campaign.

On my closing note though, it seems the original idea is not yet over. With any luck I’ll have some feedback from the creator this week and some hints about why he started all this and where it is heading. As usual your thoughts are welcome.

Update

We’ve just had some traffic figures (in German) in for the Joker card. Referrers were as follows; Direct (no referrer) 53′000, StumbleUpon 37,500, Del.icio.us 936. Thanks for sharing that data.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, marketing, stumblecard, stumblecards, stumbleupon, viral-marketing, virals

While stumbling new pages, the user will run into one of these new stumblecards. The message congratulates the user and offers the following passage as explanation:

The latest sensation sweeping the web, ’stumblecards’ are simply an online version of the humble trading card. What’s so great about ’stumblecards’ is that you never know when you’ll find one. There are many out there to collect so keep your eyes peeled. When you find a card, be sure to bookmark this page or give it the thumbs up so you can go on to collect them all.

So what is this all about? Is it just a way of gaining votes within the StumbleUpon system? If so, it seems to be working. The joker card has 100+ reviews and counting, while some users are dismissive, many are curious about the ‘game’.

Upon inspection it seems unlikely that StumbleUpon have authorised this promotion. Notably the first cards to appear at the site uP’n'@tOm were copyrighted to them. The joker card appeared later and does not carry a copyright, but has Google Adsense on the bottom of the page. My guess would be that the second site jumped on the meme while it was hot. As I am sure others will be planning to do right now.

So what do you think about the promotion, interesting viral idea or waste of time. Let’s hear your thoughts…

Technorati Tags: Social Media, stumblecards, stumbleupon, virals