Social Networking and Motorcycle Mania

Reality TV has taken the world by storm. Known for being incredible clumsy when it comes to the handling of power (or any) tools, I have naturally been drawn to all sorts of these shows since an early age. As they say, "Those who can't watch it on TV). Oh well.

One of my favorite genres, however, is the motorcycle show. If you haven't caught one yet, essentially some burly guys get together, cut metal, and assemble some really bad ass creations in the process. The other day I managed to catch about 5 episodes of the "Great Biker Buildoff" on the Discovery Channel (I think). This show pits two well known bike builders against each other for 30 days with a final showdown at some Biker Event.

What peaked my interest, however, as I watched these episodes, was that the builders were almost always importing some parts from either the current or previous build-off contestants. I realized the simplicity of the model Discovery has used - they leveraged the social network. By essentially storming through the address books of these top-tier builders, they were able to build their show organically while still sticking to the quality.

At the same time, I also noticed something else interesting. There are any number of smaller tier vendors that seem to go way out of their way (often HAND DELIVERING) to provide service to these new celebrities. Granted, these are companies that were already in the Rolodex - but it always strikes me how everyone's always "The best in the business".

Now, what show can we make by leveraging our address book?