If you had the chance to speak to 20,000 people, what would you say?

It’s not just a hypothetical question. ListServe is a mailing list whose sole purpose is to allow one randomly selected member a day send out an email of their choosing, and it’s an intriguing idea. I’ve been a member for about a month and the emails have ranged from meandering and banal to inspirational and moving (and only a few commercials so far). The founders don’t editorialize, only checking that the emails don’t contain a virus or other unpleasantness. I look forward to receiving my daily email from a stranger as they attempt to impart their wisdom in a single missive.

The man behind this social experiment is Clay Shirky, a well-known author and consultant. He organized a group of 5 NYU grad students to run the project and the list is growing rapidly. Unless the ratio of commercial content increases dramatically, I’m staying with the list to see what happens.

Betabeat has more details about the project. To join, subscribe at ListServe.com.