Afterwards, all 40 were given a creative problem-solving task (technically a word association task).

FORBES: How To Be More Creative At Work (Or What Corporations Can Learn From Booze-Hounds and Baby Elephants)

Ask most people to do some word association about the government and computers, and you can bet the words "disaster", "billions" and "shambles" will be prominent.

BBC: All right gov? Can government do the web?

Simplified even further, it is another form of word association.

FORBES: Arsenal Has Become Boring

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association has posted a code of ethics on its Web site.

NPR: Slate's Ad Report Card: Burger King's Buzz Marketing

There are other approaches as well such as those described by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

FORBES: Can You Measure Your Digital Eminence?

What remains clear is that until she makes a choice, her every word, appearance and association will be scrutinized.

WSJ: Hillary Clinton's every public move generates buzz

Its been a hotly debated issue for months at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, the leading trade group for viral marketing.

FORBES: Buzz Patrol

On Wednesday, Nov. 16, I will participate in a panel discussion at the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Summit in Las Vegas to talk about the efficacy of online versus offline word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing campaigns.

FORBES: Why Digital Still Can't Beat Word Of Mouth In Sharing Brand Messages

And that is a fighting word to groups ranging from Code Pink to the National Rifle Association.

NPR: FCC May Vote to Loosen Media Ownership Rules

In a year-end trawl of the Internet, the association of securities regulators found 9, 001 website names containing the word "crowdfund, " according to a spokesman.

WSJ: Crowdfunding Efforts Draw Suspicion