Triadic Closure and the rising popularity of the HQ App
HQ is a new trivia app where users can play live trivia against each other (yes everyone plays each other at the same time) and compete for cash prizes (currently averaging at $1,000 per jackpot). The winnings are split between all of the users who answer the 12 trivia questions correctly. Sounds easy, right?
The questions range in topic from pop culture to art history, to technology and sports. They range in difficulty from kindergarten-level easy to extremely niche/difficult questions that wipe out nearly half of the users at a time, commonly referred to as “savage questions.” The questions get progressively harder and you have only a few seconds to make a selection for your answer – and no, it’s not enough time to Google the answers even if you’re just using keywords as your search terms (I’ve tried). There is a safety net, though. Sending your user “code” to others when you refer them to the app will grant you an extra life that allows you to remain in the game should you get a question wrong – one user downloading and using your code means one pass in incorrectly answering. Otherwise, one wrong answer or failure to answer means you’re out and become a spectator.
Playing HQ is not just fun – in fact, it’s a little stressful.
When I first started playing HQ, the user base averaged around 50,000 users per game (or less). Now, that’s usually how many people log in right before the game begins. As a user you have a window of only a few minutes to enter the game to be eligible to play. In other words, if your app lags when opening you may not be able to play at all. Additionally, you can only play HQ twice a day; 9 PM EST (daily) and at 3 PM EST (weekdays only). Beyond that, the game currently cannot handle the number of users playing or chatting (yes there is a live-chat running with all users and no one really knows why) at the same time. In recent rounds over 100,000 users sign on to play in hopes of a cash prize making the game lag like crazy. If you exit the game for any reason (including a lag) or your phone freezes for a moment when receiving an email or a few texts in a row, you may lose your slot in the game altogether.
For an app that you use for perhaps 15 minutes a day, maximum, and one where you cannot cash out until you hit $25 (meaning you usually have to win more than once) it has gained some serious popularity…even in the wake of some bad publicity from the founders and team.
Using triadic closure theory we can begin to explain why something that seems so trivial (please laugh at my pun) is so pervasive. The theory of triadic closure states that “If two people in a social network have a friend in common, then there is an increased likelihood that they will become friends themselves at some point in the future.”
If we apply this to downloads we can start to understand why friends of friends may be downloading the game. If there are people in the same cluster of friends, it is likely that they share some knowledge base. It can be assumed that they have something in common; they might have related friends, go to the same school or work together. The HQ founders are smart in including the referral code idea. Players are so interested in winning that without an incentive they may keep the app a secret in order to maximize the amount that they can win. However, if one person with HQ is incentivized to refer a friend in order to get ahead during rounds by using their referral code then two related individuals now play HQ. Usually, two friends do not exist in a vacuum where there is no other connection between them but even if there is, the initial player will eventually send their code to someone with whom they have at least one other friend in common. Once there are two individuals with the game downloaded, who are both incentivized to add players, we can use triadic closure theory to help understand how the mutual friends of these two friends have an increased likelihood of adapting and using the app. Now if we apply that at a huge scale, we can see why so many people are adding this game to their daily routines.
Source:
http://fortune.com/2017/11/22/hq-trivia-app/
App Download Link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hq-live-trivia-game-show/id1232278996?mt=8