I'm currently working on the business plan and strategy for a social networking company. When attacking the marketing plan, one of the first things I did was a Google search on "creating zealots."

This is because marketing for social networks is not only about getting customers/members to your site, but more importantly, getting these people to tell all of their friends about the website. People who tell their friends must love the site; they must become zealots.

My son wanted to stay home from school the other day. He wasn't really sick; just wanted to stay home.

I asked him what he was going to do if he stayed home. The list went on and on -- watch this DVD, watch this show on Tivo, play this video game, etc.

Several years ago I attended a lecture given by a former Procter & Gamble executive. In his speech, he mentioned that a significant portion of households pre-wash dishes before putting them in the dishwashers. (I just found a 2002 Arthur D. Little, Inc. report that said that 15% of households pre-wash their dishes.) The executive smugly commented about how this was great for P&G -- they made money both from the sale of dishwasher detergent and dishwashing soap.