Valleywag
It's every cunning internet company's favorite metaphor. When asked how on earth they're going to build the world's biggest blah of blah, they reply: the users will do the work, voluntarily, just like the boys Tom Sawyer persuaded to whitewash a fence in the Mark Twain novel. Tom Kuntz of the New York Times gathers together quotes, from magazines and industry luminaries such as Marissa Mayer. An example, from the Google product exec: "Tom Sawyer got it right. Why paint a fence when you can get your friends to do it for you for free?" Tom Sawyer was also smart enough not to advertise his trickery.
Tom Sawyer
It's every cunning internet company's favorite metaphor. When asked how on earth they're going to build the world's biggest blah of blah, they reply: the users will do the work, voluntarily, just like the boys Tom Sawyer persuaded to whitewash a fence in the Mark Twain novel. Tom Kuntz of the New York Times gathers together quotes, from magazines and industry luminaries such as Marissa Mayer. An example, from the Google product exec: "Tom Sawyer got it right. Why paint a fence when you can get your friends to do it for you for free?" Tom Sawyer was also smart enough not to advertise his trickery.
9:16 AM on Mon Apr 30 2007
By Nick Denton
935 views
