The Email Wars

Today the team sent me an intervention email. It is not that they don’t like me, it was that they are “concerned” about my love and embracing of ALL things digital. I IM, I email, I Tweet, I Facebook, I Skype, I blog, I comment, I Flickr, I YouTube, I Vimeo, I post in forums, and most importantly I forget to notice that it is still sunny out in Portland, Oregon. I guess that they have a point now that I have taken the first step in admitting I have a problem. 

So I am happy that they took the time to intervene. At least they used email as the vehicle, as last time the all company “meeting” in my office was a bit over the top. Guess they forgot about the baseball bat and the fire escape so close to my desk…

But on the other side of the coin, this is one of the simplest and best sites using email as the “viral” vehicle that I have seen in a while. MeetUp used a great idea about all of us and our dependence on online communication, “friends” (watch the video and see if you catch the 433,000 BFFs copy there, classic), and the fact that we need to use these mediums to gt back out and physically interact with those in the real world. After all it is where LIFE happens, not the inbox or the web. Sorry to burst your bubbles.

What an easy viral campaign to execute. I expect that this one will be one of the more talked about in the coming months. Note that this is all about the IDEA and not the execution. Also note that they used email to power it and not any of the other vehicles we all feel are “viral” enablers.

I also like the fact that at the bottom of the email (in small font) there is a way to remove yourself from future “interventions”. Good touch as some people don’t want any more reality today…

If you know someone that NEEDS and intervention, go to UnPlugYourFriends.com