The Octopus returneths from the deep!
Two weeks ago, I started Project Octopus. It was a simple experiment, designed to measure conversations around a black octopus necklace that I bought on Ebay. I wanted to see whether I could create a social object - an object that people would talk about, and in turn generate further conversations.
Today, I completed the Project. In hindsight, I failed miserably at one thing - metrics. I didn’t set any targets or goals, but given the nature of the experiment, hitting the numbers wasn’t important. What WAS important was whether it was possible.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the answer: it is possible.
Results Summary
- In 14 days, 10 unique conversations occurred
- From those 10 conversations, a secondary conversation about the necklace and the project occurred without my presence
- 40% of conversations were with people who weren’t personal friends
- 90% of conversations were in public, social areas
- 70% of commenters were in my own age bracket
I was surprised at the percentage of conversations that occurred with people who I didn’t personally know. I was expecting only personal friends would comment, but the necklace seemed to cut through inhibitions and elicit reactions from people who I wouldn’t expect to comment. Of the three randoms, one was a bank teller, and two were random university students. The work mate was a boss a few levels above me.
Conclusion: Given enough incentive, people will ignore their own inhibitions and start talking.
This played out as I expected. Given the nature of the item, the usage of Lego over the years, and the areas in which I happen to hang around in, I expected the predominant age bracket to be my own. The octopus is from a mid-to-late 90s “underwater” set of Lego, which is a very specific time frame to expect people to recognise the object for what it is. Beyond recognition, the shape and colour also attracted attention, as well as the clothing I wore. Three people commented on the day when I wore a “plunging neckline” shirt that highlighted the item.
Conclusion: Inconclusive. I didn’t go out of my way to escape my own comfort zone, ie. my own age demographic.
Again, as expected, the more social areas of my life were the places where more comments were made. My work was at a university, so realistically there were four conversations at university, making it the most popular place.
Conclusion: Areas where random conversations and non-intimate interactions normally occur (eg. university, work, parties with a lot of people) are breeding grounds for observational commentary.
Overall Conclusions
I was incredibly chuffed to hear that Project Octopus spawned a secondary conversation. After talking with me, a personal friend ran into one of his friends who happened to be wearing a Lego Stormtrooper necklace. This prompted another conversation about this new necklace, which in turn came back to Project Octopus. This coincidence, while unplanned, defined the project for me - even with just 10 conversations, I had a 10% conversion rate.
In conclusion, I think it’s possible to manufacture a social object, given the right conditions and an understanding of how conversations are created. Obviously this was a simple, and flawed, experiment, so further experiments under different conditions should be conducted. For what I intended, though, I’d call this simple experiment MYTH CONFIRMED.
Next project: Getting a job.
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