"OK, run it by me one more time. It doesn't really make much sense," Dan said to his friend John from across the diner booth.
"It's simple." John took another sip of his coffee. "All you need to do is create an account and pick somebody to follow. Can be anybody you want. Check the app at least once a day for updates, and then check in with me once in a while. You don't even have to post anything on your account if you don't feel like it."
"And you're tracking what, exactly?"
"Marketing statistics, language, hashtags, that sort of thing. I'm trying to find out what makes posts go viral, and ways to capitalize on that."
"And I'll be getting a cut, right?"
"If it all works out, absolutely! This has a chance to be highly lucrative. People are throwing money at these influencers to do almost nothing - this is your chance for a piece of that pie while doing even less!"
Dan liked the sound of that. He hated his job, and his roommate. If this panned out it'd be a chance to get away from both of them. Still, he had some reservations.
"I don't know man. Why me? You know I hate all that social media crap. I haven't been on any of those platforms since I quit FaceSpace like ten years ago."
"Exactly!" John replied. "You're a perfect control group. A blank canvas, so to speak. You haven't been impacted by all that social advertising already. It'll be far easier for me to track its influence!"
The word "influence" didn't really sit well with Dan, but the promise of some extra cash helped him get past that.
"OK, sure. And you say I can follow anybody I want?"
"Anyone at all. Though things will probably go quicker if you pick someone who already has a bit of a following, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"Wonderful," John said with a big smile, then he gestured to the mostly empty diner. "Why don't we meet here again in a few days?"
Dan nodded as John offered to cover the bill.
A few hours later he was sitting on his couch, setting up his new Peepagram account and trying to decide who he should follow...
