Incentives aren’t a new concept. Dangle a carrot on a stick and the horse will follow.

Dangle the idea of a carrot in front of a horse and, not surprisingly, you’re not going to get the same response. That’s where one of the joys of being human comes into play. We can feel good about nothing. Really good. The No-Prize isn’t a new idea, but it’s quickly catching on as one of the easiest ways to generally make your users feel good. Foursquare has badges, Reddit has karma, Xbox Live has achievements – what do these all get you? Absolutely nothing.

What do you get for spotting continuity errors in Marvel comic books? Yep. An empty envelope.

Well, nothing physical. What they give users is a goal, something to brag about, a reason to come back – it’s the gold star on your math homework, it’s an affirmation that what you’re doing is good and that you should keep doing it! Who can really say that they wouldn’t appreciate a good pat on the back now and then?

One of the most interesting online representations of incentivization is Reddit.com. Reddit is a social news aggregator where the non-existant incentive is key to the existence of the site. Users submit stories and make comments – then other people can vote on those stories and comments based on how useful/interesting they find the content. The points (called karma) that users accumulate are worth absolutely nothing; you don’t get more influence because of them, and don’t get penalized for not having them. With over 2 billion unique pageviews this past December, it’s hard to argue that the karma isn’t working. It’s an interesting concept – and it can serve multiple purposes. For example, instead of penalizing users for being rude, irrelevant, or posting spam, karma discourages the negative behavior by rewarding and recognizing the good users. The community largely self-moderates itself through positive reinforcement.

So, when you’re developing your next website, app, or product – maybe you should stop and ask yourself what nothing can do for you.