It is an emerging truth on the Internet that people are constantly looking for new ways to share their thoughts. Be it Facebook, Twitter, email, Gchat, or comment threads, people are willing to squeeze into any niche to let their voices be heard.
But what if that niche wasn’t really a niche at all, but rather an expansive and packed auditorium? What if that group of listeners was 1 million people strong?
To answer these questions, members from Clay Shirky’s class “Designing Conversational Spaces,” from the NYU ITP program, created The Listserve, an email lottery that gives one person each day the opportunity to share an email with everyone who has subscribed.
The idea is unlike other listservs because it is not organized around a specific theme. Rather, it lets the daily email sender talk about whatever they want. It could be a political rant, a photograph, a meme, a YouTube video–you name it.
The experiment, according to a YouTube video announcing the project, is to see what people will say when they’re given the spotlight. The Listserve tagline is, “If you had the chance to speak to one million people what would you say?”
Right now it’s in its infant stages. At the time of this writing, only 4,730 people have signed up. Once the subscribers hit 10,000, they will begin to get one email daily, which will be sent from the winner of the lottery.
So here’s your chance. Instead of spamming your friends on Facebook or Twitter, which at times may feel like bleating into the void, get on The Listserve and maybe you’ll get an opportunity to speak to a big, captive audience.
