Why Are “We” More Willing Than Mainstream?
Aug 12 2008 
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After reading a ton of articles today, I pondered one thought, why are we more willing than mainstream to sign up for a bunch of services that they aren’t?
We’re Everywhere!
We’re on everything. We’re everywhere, and we don’t really care that our every action is published for the entire web to see. In fact, we encourage it through our usage of various services. We sign up for the latest, the hottest, and the best beta services. People think of us as the Matrix or something!
While we drone all day about this service and that service, we preach to our own choirs respectively. None of our mainstream counterparts are just as willing to jump on board and give out their email address to various random services that we sign-up for without a second thoughts. Why is this?
Interests
Well for the services that we sign up for 24/7, you definitely need a high interest in Technology and all its advanced goodness. You need to want to find the latest in this industry in order to keep up, let alone sign up for hundreds of services.
Time
This field is about as time consuming as the medical field. We spend hours and hours at the computer, searching, scavenging, scouring for any service that seems remotely useful or unique. We search for the conversations that will enlighten us and give us the spark that will lead to our next blog post. Personally, I have no life during the week. It all belongs to the web.
Productivity
The services that I am most active on definitely provide some type of help with my productivity. However, would it do the same for my mainstream counterparts that have different interests? Would they simply be wasting their time on the services that provide valuable feedback and advice for us? Could they really get the same benefits that we get from signing up for these services?
Finish The List…
I’m sure I go on and on about why we’re more willing, but I’d like for you all to comment and let me know what else can I add to the list. What am I missing? Why are “we’” more willing than “them”?
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Many of us do this stuff for a living. And that is most definitely atypical and would mean we naturally care more than most.
David hit it right on the head. Most of us have some sort of vested interest in these technologies and have formed a sort of collective around these technologies. What many in our collective fail to see is that the mainstream will not pick up these technologies unless they provide significant new value over what they already use. For instance, email, IM and telephone suffice for the majority of mainstream communications. If any of the present technologies were real game changers you'd see more interest, but for now, these new technologies don't add enough value.
Part of it, too, is neurosis: some sort of hard-wired psychological need to be at the forefront of whatever's hot. We might call ourselves 'early adopters,' but our type exists in other areas, too: politics, gaming, cooking, even something as simple as homework at school.
Everyone has an area they take a personal responsibility in being the “go-to” guy or gal for, perhaps.
I am backing Andy on this post. The psychological need for being the “go-to” person in a specific industry is a very egocentric emotional drive. Ego? In Social Media? Definitely not a new concept.
Other than the simple fact of “knowing” what is new, recognition is a huge piece of the puzzle. “We” get more out of online recognition from our peers.
It may be as simple as the mainstream does not receive the same emotional push when collaborating online.
I am a techie by profession but not explicitly working in social media. Does that count?
I agree about the value added. Often I'll take a quick look at some hot new thing, find no one on or nothing to do with the service, and then drop it for two years. Suddenly everyone's on the new Facebook or Twitter or what have you and I come crawling back.
I am a techie by profession but not explicitly working in social media. Does that count?
I agree about the value added. Often I'll take a quick look at some hot new thing, find no one on or nothing to do with the service, and then drop it for two years. Suddenly everyone's on the new Facebook or Twitter or what have you and I come crawling back.
I am a techie by profession but not explicitly working in social media. Does that count?
I agree about the value added. Often I'll take a quick look at some hot new thing, find no one on or nothing to do with the service, and then drop it for two years. Suddenly everyone's on the new Facebook or Twitter or what have you and I come crawling back.