Changing Patterns of Interaction, One Tweet at a Time
Last night, I had some beautifully plated, delicious food. As I took pictures of said meal and uploaded them to the Web, I fell into discussion about why I would broadcast my meal, and why I would share my activities so freely, be it over Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, or any other social media outlet.
It Depends
Why I share the information I do varies by context. I try to share only valuable information, but the recipients’ value depends on who they are. So before I devolve into a metadiscussion…
Professionally
I share information because value comes from the decisions on what to do with the information. With my role at DocuSign, the provider of electronic signature and online contract execution services, I often proactively reach out to individuals who are looking for help with our product and general electronic signature information. Why? Because DocuSign enables users to eliminate the costs of overnighting physical documents/contracts and accelerate business processes by reducing cycle time, much like email did for busines correspondence. Do people make this connection? Some bloggers have, and these stories are shared on the DocuSign blog.
Tools like blogs, Twitter, forums, and others enable me to reach out to the group. Customers are already there, having the conversation. Others, like Tim Jackson of Masi Bicycles, Richard and Lionel of Dell, Tony Hsieh of Zappos and Frank Eliason of Comcast have used these tools to help fulfill the brand promise of these companies and deliver/develop customer-centric value. If Masi were to build a 38cm w/650cc wheels (or I were to grow another 3-4 inches in height) I’d buy a Masi because I have an emotional connection to the brand, thanks to Tim’s digital presence. Because of Tim, I know why Masi doesn’t build a bike that small - it’s the size of the market.
I spy with my eye a Masi
In a world where many of the purchases made are either commodities or have close substitutions, service can be a key differentiator.
Personally
The personal question is more challenging one to answer. Does my IRL life suffer because I’m blogging, twittering, texting, tumblring? Do I put myself at risk to be stalked/harrassed? What about information that could fall into the hands of future business partners, employers, employees, or my parents?
No whine with this cheese!
My general rule is “What Would Google Show?” before I post. I assume people don’t care that I’m eating lunch. But they might care that I’m eating lunch at Purple and it looks like yummy. Readers can then decide if they want to try Purple someday.
I prioritize my IRL interactions, synchronous voice communication and lowest on the list of priorities is asynchronous forms of communication. Does that change my patterns of interactions? Yes - interested parties now have more information with which to vet me. For this, I get the ability to surface new, interesting people.
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 am
Ah, thanks for the mention and kind words. Sincerely.
I do wish the small market was bigger. If things keep growing there, we’ll have to be more involved. I’d personally like to do a smaller size bike- my daughter will be big enough to ride a road bike in another couple years.
The dialogs that we have in the online world are very complex, for sure. My various blogs range from full-on personal to more professional and less personal content. The company website now has a blog as the home page and I try not to put too much “I/me” into those posts. I can get as self-centered as I want on my other blogs. I think the value of “what I’m doing/ eating/ thinking” posts varies from reader to reader. I am always shocked at what I am told people remember from my various blog posts. Some people remember the product or my travels and others remember seeing pictures of me in the hospital. But for me, the value I try to deliver is the relationship people get to have with the brand through their interactions with me. People connect with people far better than they do with just a product or company. At least, that’s what I’m hoping!
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:03 am
Tim, thanks for the comment and bringing up the point of human connection. I agree that people connect with people better than with a product or company. At some point, people DO anthropomorphize products/companies, at least in the case of human-computer interaction. I’m not sure to what extent this happens with other types of products, though I’d love to find out.
Be self-centered all you want - I enjoy it.
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:10 am
The flip side of this interaction and linking myself to a brand is whether or not I can be the same person, keep the same readers/ followers/ etc if I move to another company… not that I plan to. Do we pigeon-hole ourselves if we do our jobs too well?
Don’t worry… I’ll keep talking about me. I’m good at it at least.