'They Do What?!'

The recent rise of Quora, the social net based around (mainly) cerebral Q&A, created the customary reactions, including one that I always find interesting. It’s a common outburst from many people upon being introduced to any type of new web service that goes something along the lines of: ‘They do what?! What on earth!?’, ‘What’s the matter with them?’ and at some point quite possibly, ‘Where do they find the time?’ and, if you are lucky, ‘Don’t they have jobs?!’. Sometimes with some spluttering and eye-rolling thrown in for good measure.  I went through almost exactly this train of thought the first time I saw Twitter.  I remember someone showing me a Tweet from one of their pals saying they were waiting in for the plumber because their boiler had broken and they had no hot water.  ‘They do what!?’, I spluttered, ‘Why would anyone be interested in this?!’.  However, I then caught myself and realised I was about to say everything that people had been saying to me about blogging for the previous few years.  (For some reason the blogging version of this outrage often involved people’s pyjamas evidently implying something about the plight of the lonely.  As in,‘blogging is just about people in their pyjamas writing about...

...what their cat had for breakfast’.  Considering these lowly beginnings, blogs have weirdly become a must-have for the most erudite, global commentators and journalists.)

Recently there's also been a version of this outrage about Facebook, frequently demonstrated by hardcore web-folk and early bloggers, which makes it interesting. They seem appalled that 600 million people around the world should have the gall to enjoy speaking to one another on a website that, 'ISN"T OPEN'!  'They do what?!  What's the matter with them?  Don't they understand that Mark Zuckberg is the devil in shower shoes and that his vast creation is pure evil incarnate working on a technically closed platform?!'

Now the reason I have come to find the 'They Do What?!' reaction interesting is that it’s not really something you find in other areas of media.  When confronted with a new magazine about a particular interest or subject the reaction isn’t to question the sanity of the readership, or to suggest they are only reading it because they don’t have any friends.  We may snigger a little when watching Have I Got News For You and they pull out a copy of, ‘Sandwich Spread Monthly’ or the ‘Herring Review’ but generally we understand that people like different things, even if they are a little nerdy.  

For example, if I see a pile of mountain biking magazines at a friend’s house I don’t start spluttering and demand to know where he finds the time to read them.  Neither would I expect a guest of mine to quiz me about the piles of media I have collected about Arsenal FC before berating me about my work-life balance.

Indeed, this understanding that not everyone likes everything is almost the whole raison d’etre of the marketing and media business.  People tend to fall into niches of interest, behaviour and outlook which means they can be grouped together and identified as possible buyers of a specific good or service.  

Likewise, new web services and niche social nets will find their own audiences of which you may or may not be a part.  There isn’t a requirement somewhere for everyone to use them all (although it can seem like that sometimes) in the same way there isn’t a requirement for everyone to read Horse and Hound.  I have found Quora to be pretty interesting, as long as I stay away from the professional media and marketing threads.  However, FourSquare doesn’t really do it for me.  But that’s OK. It's not a sign of my impending ejection from the Web 2.0 club. I'm just working out which services suit me.

And in the broader world, it can be helpful to think about consumers (aka people) and ask which web services they are using and how, in just the same way that we have always asked which TV and press they enjoy.  As the choice and variety of web services increases, it’s very likely that the digital profile of any individual is quite specific to their own world view and circumstances.

So next time you are confronted with some web-based service that may or may not be the next big thing but appears, to you at least, to be some new level of hell from the febrile minds of Silicon Valley and you feel a, 'They Do What?!' coming on, swallow your natural indignation. Instead, try and understand the specific reason people who are enjoying the service find it useful, or fun, and the dynamics that drive that enjoyment. Just as you would do with any other type of media.

 

Comments

[Dara Bell]

Hi,

Your argument is good but what about Social Media overload. Tools loke Ping Fm and others that allow you to update your networks are avaliable but what about having to post on all of them. I was early on the Brotiish SM networks, then on American ones so I have few know. I don't think the consumer can scale.

Dara

[James Cherkoff]

Thanks Dara, I agree, it can all be a bit overwhelming. I think there will be lots of services coming forward that help people integrate their online identities.

[Sherman Unkefer]

Every few months, new sites and new tools are coming in to make you say those words but based on my experience, people tend to understand that the reason why these sites or tolls came up is because people need some upgrade also like our computers. We can't go on sticking to the old Pentium or Athlon processors, we need to have hyper threading processors with bigger RAM and a very expensive video card to play the latest games. We are not playing with brick games anymore.:)

[James Cherkoff]

Hey thanks Sherman. Interesting point. So you think we are just getting used to more and more web services and don't feel overwhelmed...?