Beth Kanter alerted me to Nancy White’s work on the problem of the “second wave of adoption” of social networking stuff. The problem as set out is simple. Some people really get it and move quickly to innovate in the way they collaborate online. Behind them comes another wave (or wavelet) who are not so keen and are much harder to bring on board.
David Wilcox writes about potential opportunities in the uk to encourage the reluctant second wavers.
So here are a couple of barriers: Read more
Jakob Nielsen has written this on user inequality. He says the problem of the lurker is that they truly represent your users – not the tiny proportion who get active. Effectively the silent ones are the ones you should care most about. In a moment I’ll explain why this is a distraction for non-profits, but first Jakob’s explanation:
The problem is that the overall system is not representative of Web users. On any given user-participation site, you almost always hear from the same 1% of users, who almost certainly differ from the 90% you never hear from. This can cause trouble for several reasons:
- Customer feedback. If your company looks to Web postings for customer feedback on its products and services, you’re getting an unrepresentative sample.
- Reviews. Similarly, if you’re a consumer trying to find out which restaurant to patronize or what books to buy, online reviews represent only a tiny minority of the people who have experiences with those products and services.
First apologies to Steve Bridger for my inability to avoid the obvious pun on his latest and very fine post.
Last month when we met at an NVCO ICT Foresight group meeting Steve mentioned the idea of a “Buzz Director” for non profits.
It’s a particular crusade of mine to encourage not-for-profits to identify an internal champion (or recruit a virtual volunteer) to take on this role. Call it what you will. I like Beth Kanter’s “Social Media Coach”. But how about “Cause Evangelist”? Anyway, you get the idea.
Steve is essentialy looking for someone who understands how the internet can be used to broaden relationships and widen support. It is a job for someone with a clear appreciation of the point of your organisation combined with a talent for looking (and indeed living) over the horizon – perhaps you could say beyond infinity?
One of the qualities he identifies is the ability to… Read more
The possibilities of building relationships across the internet can leave us a little agog. We’re amazed for good reasons: common sense tells us that we can’t cope with limitless information or relationships. We have this image of other superhumans managing hundreds of fruitful relationships in dozens of countries, which is of course a myth. In my opinion those who heed common sense may well find the most productive ways to exploit the potential of web 2.0
You can only have so many friends.
Research from the early 1990’s found a correlation between the size of a human neocortex and how many others we can succesfully relate to. Evolutionary Psychologist Professor Robin Dunbar
We can recognise far more people than that – but the reality is that our brains only have the capacity to manage a limited number of relationships – each of various qualities.
This has literally mind-bending implications for people working in an apparently more connected world and for how non-profits might use web 2.0 technologies…..