The Ivory Tower Backs Me Up

I am pleased to report that my anecdotal observations from the previous post have been confirmed by empirical research in academia. The ACM Transactions of the Web published the following paper by Leskovic, Adamic, and Huberman entitled The Dynamics of Viral Marketing. The authors analyze a recommendation-referral system run by a large retailer. They conclude:

"Marketers should take heed that even if viral marketing works initially, providing excessive incentives for customers to recommend products could backfire by weakening the credibility of the very same links they are trying to take advantage of."

This is part of a rapidly growing body of academic work on social networks. It's only a matter of time before academics start studying anti-social networks as well...