The secret behind getting more Gmail invites

21 Jun 2004

Update: Well, it seems I was wrong about this. Google seems to give out invites quite randomly. Read the comments for more info.

OK so it’d no longer be a secret now that I’ve let it out into the wild. Anyway, the hypothesis goes somewhat like this: the number of Gmail invites you get (to send out) is positively correlated to your usage of Gmail. “Usage of Gmail” is hard to define, but I reckon it’d include the number of emails you send/receive, and possibly the amount of storage you use (out of the 1GB).

Why do I say so? Um, if you’ve been following my inane writings on this weblog, you’d probably noticed gExodus, a Python hack job that I churned out yesterday that imports emails (in mbox format) into Gmail. It does this by forwarding your existing mbox – i.e. it parses the mbox file and sends each email via SMTP to your Gmail account. This registers as received mail in your Gmail account.

In my testing of gExodus, I probably forwarded around a thousand emails. I just logged into my Gmail account and saw the red “Invite a friend to join Gmail!” link…

Screenshot of Gmail "Invite a friend" link

And I had 6 invitations (I’m left with 4 now). People don’t normally get 6 invites in 6 days’ time. But 1000+ (received) emails in 1 day, 6 invites the next – all that’s left is to connect the dots.

54 Responses to The secret behind getting more Gmail invites

Nahoya Ortiz

August 19th, 2004 at 3pm

could anyone give me a gmail invite. i would appreciate it very much. please … please … please … thanks

fred

August 20th, 2004 at 11am

can someone also send an invite my way too? really appreciate it! ^_^

send it over to: ilok76@yahoo.com.sg

Saugata

July 24th, 2004 at 3am

Hi, could u pleeez send me an invite, it’ll make my year.

Andrew Bonar

August 11th, 2004 at 11am

Well I got 1 (one) measly invite thus far, so not sure but would appear that google have unfrozen the giving of invites (if indeed they were really frozen for any length of time- sale on ebay remains unabated) used for 5 days and had 52 email in and about 19 out.

andrew

August 12th, 2004 at 8pm

i am atempting to get one have bin trying for some time now and havent goten far i am determend to get one so will keep on trying, if you would posably consider me i would be iternaly gratfull, but consider the ones who asked befor me first. i have nointention of barging in.
prolesbo@hotmail.com

Brenda Sue

August 14th, 2004 at 9am

I would love an Gmail invite……if someone has one to give to me…..plz. send to ….(ashleybrook40@netscape.net)

arvind

August 17th, 2004 at 4pm

hi,

can anyone get me a gmail.com id??

pls mail me at: adp1983@hotmail.com

Tony

July 23rd, 2004 at 12am

if anyone wants to invite me to GMAIL…

its,

bi89531@yahoo.com

thanks

JO-e

July 20th, 2004 at 6pm

I’ve been talking to a gmail employee on undernet.org irc #gmail channel and she said the invites are on hold while the service is upgraded. you may have noticed gmail being down occasionally while they upgrade.
check out the #gmail channel on irc for live info

Lee

July 22nd, 2004 at 12pm

i really need a gmail invite i am on a very slow mail server right now gmail seems to be the only online service worth getting.

jamie

July 12th, 2004 at 5am

please help me get a gmail invite i feel so left out, xx

Fenix

July 12th, 2004 at 11pm

i’m a sain seya fan! send me an invitation too!

tntoak

July 16th, 2004 at 9am

If you happen to get more GMail invites in the next few days, I’d love to get one. Please send to tntoak@ussenatesim.us

disillusion

July 19th, 2004 at 5pm

Hey if you have any spare invites laying around i’d love to check out all the hype. :)

Sunil

July 6th, 2004 at 4pm

please give me an invite…

Krissy

July 3rd, 2004 at 12pm

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a Gmail account and have been trying to get one for weeks. If you have any extra invites, could you send one to opaqueflower@hotmail.com?

Cheah Chu Yeow

July 3rd, 2004 at 1am

titandude: Erm, did you see my update of the post? Or read the comments preceding yours? I corrected myself after that posting that it seems the way invites are given our are probably random after all. That period just happened to be a time when Google was giving out lots of invitations, and I mistakenly made an incorrect correlation.

titandude

July 2nd, 2004 at 9pm

i tried that 1000 thing to get 6 invites, are you serious about this? i hope you are not scamming us.
I got NOTHING.

Richard

July 2nd, 2004 at 8pm

Any chance of getting a Gmail account. Could someone please let me know how i could let get one or send me an invite to richardandersonis@yahoo.co.uk.

thanks so much

Matt McDonnell

July 2nd, 2004 at 12pm

Could someone please send me a gmail invite. I’ve been trying to get one for a long time and keep failing. I have tried every Gmail invite site i have found and still no hope at getting Gmail. If someone wants to help out a desperate guy please send a Gmail invite to Gettin_high91@hotmail.com. It would be greatly appreciated.

July 1st, 2004 at 9pm

never mind i got it.
i got this macro thingy.

Pebbles

hey,

Joining hthe bandwagon here … If anyone has a sapre invite for pretty ol meeh, Id love to have one!
And to return the kind favor … in case I get an invite, other posters could email me and iL send you an invite as well (and hope you’d do the same to other strangers ^_^ )

Thanks in advance!!!

email me okay … pebbleflux @ yahoo.co.uk

paru

June 30th, 2004 at 10pm

could someone pass on a spare invite to me please…

thanks
myparu at lycos dot com

Beef

July 1st, 2004 at 9am

Can I have an invite please?
I would Like one so much.
Beefstew2004@aol.com
Thank you

hey, whats the easiest spam/mass email to get to 1000 quickly? i willing to collect invites too.

James

June 30th, 2004 at 10am

I really need a gmail account because i am constantly getting emails with file attachments that are in the two digit Mb range and my email fill at an crediable rate
please help
spacedog150@aol.com

love

June 29th, 2004 at 9pm

Sorry i have nothing to give you
Beaucse iam poor and new user
But please help me to get few Gmail invites

BE FRIENDS AND SOME DAY something good will back to
you
PLEASE HELP ME PLEASE
I WILL give you my heart
THanks
LOve with love
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
MY email is
nicksgreek@yahoo.com
PLEASE

joAnn

June 28th, 2004 at 5pm

Of course I found your blog searching for gmail invites. And, naturally, selfishly, I’m here to ask for one.

I’ve become so obsessed with this that I’ve composed an ad:

Female seeking Gmail. Looking for a large, macho-mail with a sophisticated and sexy interface. Would love to start with a beta relationship, and perhaps move on to a more alpha relationship later. “Hot mails” need not apply.

– atjoann@yahoo.com

Brian Thorne

June 27th, 2004 at 4pm

Would really love a Gmail invite if anyones got a spare…
My email addy is (brian@hardbyte.co.nz) thanks
Peace out!

Royston

June 27th, 2004 at 10pm

If anyone has a spare invite I would realy love one.
Email: cvecnetkiller@hotmail.com

Thanks in advance

June 27th, 2004 at 5am

If you guys have extra invites to GMail, please help a blogger out by sending it my way. I will be deeply appreciating you help. Thank you.

wizs576(at)msn.com

Ludwik

Be grateful for GMail invite.

Hugs,
Ludwik

lls@mailami.com

Der Reux

June 26th, 2004 at 11am

i’d love to get a g-mail invite.
my e-mail: agp00 (@) yahoo.com
Thanks

stefeke

June 26th, 2004 at 10pm

Can I get a g-mail invite
steve.n@home.nl
Thanks

If you guys have extra invites to GMail, please help a blogger out by sending it my way. Thanks.

Gaurav Kadyan

June 25th, 2004 at 1pm

Hi,
If u have any invites left then plz send me one.
Cheers,
Kadddy@yahoo.com

dasickis

June 25th, 2004 at 12pm

go to gmailswap.com its awesome

Aaron Brazell

June 23rd, 2004 at 7am

I’ve actually got three I am trying to get rid of but not for free – $5/ea. So sharad, if you want one, email me at aaron.brazell@emmense.com…

Aaron

Bickram Rai

June 25th, 2004 at 7am

if anyone would be so kind as to sending me an invitation, i would be so greatful. than you for your time. bye

sharad

June 22nd, 2004 at 11am

I am dying to get a gmail invite. I have even been looking through my yahoo bulk folder. I am really curious to check out how different it is from other emails. Even Yahoo’s 100 MB offering hasn’t dampened my quest for gmail.
So if you have an invite, I ‘d be really greateful.

thanks,
sharad[at]umevoice[dot]com

ali

June 22nd, 2004 at 8am

if any of you would be so kind, i wouldnt mind an invite either, 20mb of isp storage is getting a tad tiresome =)

–>>currymuncher7@hotmail.com

Thanks

JavaGeek

June 22nd, 2004 at 12am

Well, I’ve been using gmail for a week, and I haven’t got any invites yet. And I’m sending and receiving regular mail (from mailing lists and personal). So I probably think it truly is random.

Delta

June 22nd, 2004 at 1am

I received six invites in six days sending out to messages whatsoever, and only receiving four emails…
I think they just recently started an invite spree…

Luke Reeves

June 21st, 2004 at 11pm

I second the theory about sending invites brings invites; I use GMail for nothing but inviting other people now, and I consistently get about 5 a day.

Andre Mermegas

June 21st, 2004 at 10pm

If you’re interested in giving one out, id love one.
andre(@)versionary.com

Ding Deng

I’ve a secondary account which is rarely used, but still got 6 invites at a time days ago, so I don’t think that’s the real cause.

Patrick

Hey,

I got that many in that time and I had no e-mails coming in besides the invite acceptances, 2 real ones and 3 pieces of spam and the only e-mails I sent were the invite e-mails plus 2 in response to the 2 real ones which were “test” e-mails by those folks.

Manuzhai

To me, it also seems that giving out your invites provokes more emails from GMail. I haven’t used GMail too much, but I’ve been giving out the invites I got to friends, and it seems I get new ones once mine are used…

Tim Brown

August 25th, 2004 at 11am

Not that anyone would invite me for any reason besides reading this message and having an extra slot, but I wouldn’t mind getting a gmail invite.

nikehair99@yahoo.com

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