Gira Diment 1.7 - Hottie
Originally uploaded by CarlosBravo.

Exactly. Why would I want to buy from/use/visit/support your website/ store/ product/ service? What's in it for me?

Time is precious. Okay, so maybe it isn't precious, but I certainly don't like to feel like I've missed out on better opportunities. I definitely don't want to put hours or even minutes into figuring something out that doesn't pay off for me in huge dividends.

If I'm going to invest my time and maybe even my money into something I had better see one of the following outcomes:

• prestige
• pleasure
• attractiveness
• cash

I'm not saying that I don't have an altruistic bone in my body, but even when I'm doing stuff for the benefits of others, I get at least some of the above rewarded back to me. And, yes, there are a small fraction of people out there [read: smaller than 1% of the population] who just want to give without any recognition, but that's not me...or you.

All of the social media that is birthing around me here in the bay area will be interesting to watch flesh out over the rest of the world. I'm sure that there are many uses for some of these new online programs that could get me to achieve prestige [read: rockstar status], pleasure [read: gettin' some], attractiveness [read: hiding the physical flaws so that I can get some] or cash, but I can't seem to get past knowing what the hell these things do in the first place to get there.

I'm certainly not spending any extra time figuring it out, and since I consider myself pretty 'in the know' and tech savvy, I can't even BEGIN to imagine what the general online population will think when they see this stuff.

Demo after demo, I sit and watch and think, "Cool. I need something that can do that." Then I sign up for the beta, log in and....erm....stare at the screen blankly until I go back to the stuff I know.

This is one of the the biggest problems with all of the activity going on during Web 2.0. We want to spread the love across the world, assured that markets are conversations, that we are in control of our own purchases and decisions...but we live in such a small world here...a small bubble, in fact.

I wasn't here for the first bubble. Is this what happened? Did everyone measure the potential success of a webservice by the rate of adoption in the SF Bay online community? It's definitely a good start, don't get me wrong. If it's not going to be adopted here, it probably won't fly. But I would advise sharing your technology with people beyond the geek scope to see if:

1. They 'get' it (without a major presentation on the potential of it)
   
2. They can use it (without a manual or a 3-week course)
3. They think they need it at all

Okay, so here is my disclaimer. We've been cognizant of this. I want to achieve a fine balance between meeting the needs of the tagging community and making the product useful (and usable) to the general online community. However, I don't think any of our end goals are different.

Geeks and luddites alike want prestige, pleasure, attractiveness and/or cash. If meme spreading will get you laid, go for it. If booking a discount vacation will get you laid, go for it. If buying a hot shade of lipstick will get you laid, go for it. If running a chiropractic group gets you laid....you get the picture.

The point is that we should be very aware that our means to the end might be drastically different than others. And, if we think our means (i.e. folksonomies, social tagging, etc.) is fabulous, then we should really do a better job of making it accessible. And I say this because everyone seems to be getting really excited about stuff that I can't imagine using to connect with anyone else other than this immediate community.

Think of it this way, more people who use it, the more prestige, pleasure, attractiveness (ok, maybe not, but the pool is deeper, so maybe more people will find you attractive) and cash you will have. Now THAT's motivation.

Tags: motivation, marketing, tagging, drinkingyourownkoolaid