All other factors being equal, does having a silly name make Internet things more or less successful?
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@evan Why don't you BLOG about it, you big ol' BLOGGER.
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Armando :rick:replied to Evan Prodromou last edited by
@evan if there's a correlation between silly name and success, it's probably a weak one. If the name is hard to pronounce or spell then people get annoyed by it. On the other hand, the unique name, however silly, makes it easier to find once it's indexed by search engines.
When you search for Mastodon the social network has to compete with the heavy metal band and the animal for space in the search results. This wouldn't happen with a more unique name but at this point it's popular enough to be at or near the top of the results. -
I thought the question referred to usernames, as in "Is '@bobjonkman' more or less successful than '@FloppyHatGuy'?" Tough to say; I've always used my real name on all things Internet, thinking it would be the best way to have a career in Internet-related things. So I chose "Slightly less successful", but I really don't have comparative data for silly user names...
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@evan it was a lot easier to pitch PubSubHubbub than WebSub
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@KevinMarks @evan It was a fun name to say
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@bobjonkman I think MrBeast has done better than Jimmy Donaldson would have.
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@Gargron @KevinMarks there's a pub, a sub, and a hub, but no bub
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Evan Prodromoureplied to Evan Prodromou last edited by
I think somewhat more successful. Silly names engage our rational mind, since we seek to explain the name -- or just comment on it being silly. I think that embeds the idea more. Silly names also invite conversation, press coverage, and further engagement. All other things being equal, I think a silly name will make a product, project, technology or pattern more popular and successful.
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@evan
Depends on the market.
Silly, fun name for a kids entertainment company? Sign me up!As a potential supplier for my heart transplant? Not so much.