MegaSite Mania

When you name a website ‘43 things’ you succeed in creating curiosity instantly. People start to wonder about the 43 things that are being discussed over here. What are those 43 things? Are they 43 great mistakes across the world? Are they 43 things that you should do before boarding an airplane? Or are they 43 better things that you could have done with your life? People had a similar feeling when ‘43 things’ was launched 43 days before New Year 2005 with just a simple question. People started to throng the site in huge numbers out of sheer curiosity. The site made headlines even before it was launched officially much later.

Folksonomy

43 things also brought a brand new term to internet jargon.  Folksonomy was never heard before. It basically means connecting with each other’s goals on the basis of common ideas and terms. So if you and another person in another country have a same or similar goal, you guys can connect to each other with a simple click. Then you can share blogs on how you are progressing in achieving that goal. Have you simply let go of it or have you achieved it?

The Company

Robot Co op is the company that launched 43 things. However soon after the website made news, speculation began that the company was funded by one of the internet majors, ‘Amazon.com’. This speculation ensured that 43 things remained in the news and on the headlines most of the time. News articles like ‘Amazon’s 43 secrets and 43 things Amazon conspiracy’ were being churned out routinely by a scandal hungry media. It is said that it lead to a 35% increase in people using the site. Now who said that publicity can be bad? In fact it can be pretty useful to the success of a company.
Expansion

The website won a webby award in 2005 for the best social networking site. This once again propelled it into the spot light. Very soon two sister sites were also launched by the same company and they called it ’43 places’ and ’43 people’.

Do you do 43 things?

This is a question that is symbolic of how famous the website has become. Now doing 43 things means that you are a part of the biggest network in the world that focuses on achieving your goals. Unless you do 43 things you are not serious about the whole affair. It has risen from a mere idea to a powerful force that even rivals giant social networking sites like myspace.com in popularity. Now these two websites can also be known as the two faces of social networking.