I just had a bizarre email from a guy I know vaguely. It started like this (my bold emphasis):
“Come join my network at hi5!
I now have over 4 friends in my network! You can meet all of them, plus more than 20 million other Hi5 members! Once you join, you will immediately be connected to all the people in my circle of friends.”
First, I think I’d get more than 4 (ok, perhaps he means 5) people on my list before I sent it out. And, if I couldn’t get that many, I think I’d persuade myself not to send it. I thought we’d seen the end of plaxo/linkedin/orkut type mail. Surely these should have gone the way of egovernment takeup rather than explosive growth? 20 million people in Hi5? Should I be upset that I only found out it existed after there were already that many people hooked into it?
If people do respond to these, wouldn’t this be a great way to spread a virus … comes from someone you think you know, links you to a webpage, asks for a bit of personal information, displays a graphic that can infect your PC (in line with the latest security scare)? Maybe it already happened?
