How I Won a Macbook Air

I’m detailing this not to gloat, but to give a glimpse into the depth of my humble genius.

The Set-up

Porter Novelli’s client devised a competition around using their new business-related social networking app on Facebook. The app allows you to search for job openings, request business connections, endorse your contacts, and post your job experience on Facebook.

The Game

The sweepstakes was to get as many contacts as possible in a set time frame. One gets their name added to a hat for every ten connections one makes (e.g. 10 contacts = 1 names, 500 contacts = 50 names in the hat). One name is drawn out and the winner is announced the next day. The limit for the number of names one could enter was capped at 100 (1000 contacts). Prizes were given away every week during a six week period. Winners of weeks one through five won an iPad 2 and the final winner, week six, got a Macbook Air.

Overall Strategy

First, it was a game of chance. For instance, if there were two individuals competing and one had 1000 contacts (100 names in the hat) and the other had 10 contacts (1 name), the outcome would not be certain.

There were over 100 participants in the competition from Porter Novelli. Essentially the game is a foot race to 1000 contacts and you’re racing against your colleagues.

My strategy evolved over the course of the competition in three steps.

1 – The Hay Burner Method

Add as many contacts as fast as possible. At first this method seemed promising. I sent requests with those that I knew in our Seattle office and got to a little over 10 contacts (1 name in the hat). I then sent requests to those I’ve met in other offices, 50 contacts (5 names total). I then started sending requests to people I didn’t know using the “People You Might Know” tab. I got to over 150 contacts (15 names), but noticed my method was not very efficient. For every 25 requests, I received a single confirmation.

2 – The Kevin Bacon Method

The first method was not very strategic. I put on the Porter Novelli critical thinking hat and remembered some lessons I learned from Malcolm Gladwell ‘s The Tipping Point. According to Gladwell , “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.” Gladwell dubs these socially gifted folks connectors. I began sending requests to the connectors, people who “link us up with the world ... people with a special gift for bringing the world together.” I noticed that these people responded more often than not to my connection requests and happened to share 5 or more contacts from different companies. This method ballooned my connections to 350 (35 names) by the second week. I shared my method with Will Tucker, our magnificent IT guy, and his numbers shot up as well. Reaching out to those with 5 or more shared contacts from different companies proved to be an effective strategy, though not perfect.

3 – The Ninja Pirate Method

Will continued to use the Kevin Bacon Method to get to well over 750 contacts by the third week with me close behind at 500. The remaining competitors were all below 250 contacts at this time.

I discovered the mobile app for iPhone during this time. The mobile app allowed me to add contacts more quickly than using a laptop or desktop. Fortune smiled upon me after going through the app. It allowed me to see the connections made by my contacts with those not in my network arranged chronologically. For instance, “Will is connected with Dave in Finland 2 minutes ago.” I could swoop in, send a request to Dave in Finland, and hear back almost immediately by simply tapping on my phone twice. Eventually Will caught on to my shenanigans. I was basically stealing his contacts. We both reached our 1000 contact goal a little after the third iPad was given away.

The final drawing was on November 28 and I won. Roughly three and a half hours of work for a new MacBook Air.