Why Facebook's "7 Friends in 10 Days" Matters

Facebook's "7 friends in 10 days" growth hack is more than just a catchy phrase. It's a powerful example of how a clear objective can drive a team towards success. This approach helps identify key metrics that correlate with user engagement and, ultimately, growth.

• The "7 friends" goal isn't about the exact number; it's about focusing on a measurable objective.
• This type of goal simplifies complex growth strategies into a manageable target.

Defining Your Success Metric

The first step in replicating Facebook's approach is defining your own success metric. This metric should accurately measure how successful users are based on their actions within your product.

• Example Success Metrics:
• Days active in the last 28 days
• Revenue from purchases in the last 28 days
• Content uploaded in the last 28 days
• User engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares)

Exploring Your Data for Insights

Once you have a defined success metric, you need to analyze your data to discover potential correlations.

• Data Exploration Steps:
• Create a cohort of users, such as those who joined within the last X days.
• Gather a variety of data points for each user, including your success metric, user demographics, and other engagement metrics (e.g., friends count, content created, app downloads, etc.).
• Look for patterns and correlations between your success metric and other data points.

The Power of Regression Analysis

Regression analysis allows you to delve deeper into your data and quantify the relationships between different variables. This can help you identify the key factors driving user success.

• Regression in Practice:
• Use regression to statistically determine which variables have the strongest correlation with your success metric.
• While correlation does not imply causation, regression can help pinpoint variables to focus on for growth hacking strategies.

Building Your Facebook-Inspired Growth Model

Based on your data exploration and regression analysis, you can start building a model that mimics Facebook's "7 friends" approach. This model should be focused on specific actionable insights and easily explainable to your team.

• Model Development:
• Identify the key variables that contribute most to your success metric.
• Formulate a clear hypothesis about how to influence these variables to achieve desired outcomes.

A/B Testing: Verifying Your Model

Once you have a hypothesis and a potential growth strategy, it's crucial to test it through A/B testing. This allows you to compare the effectiveness of your model against a control group.

• A/B Testing for Validation:
• Implement your growth strategy for a specific group of users (the "treatment" group).
• Compare the performance of the treatment group to a control group that does not receive the intervention.
• Analyze the results to determine whether your model is effective in driving user success.

Branding Your Growth Model: Communication is Key

After successful A/B testing, it's important to communicate your growth model effectively to your team. Give it a memorable name, explain it clearly, and emphasize its relevance to your goals.

• Effective Communication:
• Create a catchy and concise name for your model (e.g., "The Engaged User Model").
• Articulate the key elements of your model in a way that is easy to understand.
• Connect your model to the overall growth strategy of your startup.