The other day, one of my friends sent me an event request on Facebook. The “event” promised a free hoodie to the first 30,00,000 [sic] people who followed each of these rules:
- Click the “I’m Attending” button.
- “Like” this page. (YOU MUST like the page to get your FREE HOODIE!!)
- Invite all of your friends. (If you skip this step, the system will not register you. This is VERY important.)
- Write on the wall of the above link “Attending” and your Hoodie size.
Now I’m honestly not misjudging the friend who sent the request. I assume she means well, maybe even wanting her friends to get their own free hoodies. But it made me consider:
Am I willing to spam my friends in exchange for a hoodie?
We don’t often think in those terms, even though we make dozens of these decisions each day. But that’s what it comes down to, isn’t it? How much is trust worth?
Or maybe better yet, how much is that hoodie worth to you?
