I suppose it knew it… but I had never really thought about it.
An article on CNN referenced social networking sites as the ultimate marketing tools, promoting “the virtuoso of yourself.”
In certain ways, I’m sure that blogs fulfill the same lizard brain needs.
In a world of so much anonymity… so many strangers in the crowd. I suppose that deep down we all want to connect and belong and be liked.
Match.com and many others have long catered to individuals looking for members of the opposite sex. It only stands to reason that the disconnection that is our lives would ultimately drive the need to meet with or stay connected to others in a ‘non dating format.’
My 20 year reunion is coming up and I’ve been working with a few friends to find all of our classmates. We turned to Jot to facilitate this. Our graduating class was about 120 folks, if memory serves.. and we’ve managed to get over 50% to the site… and probably 1/2 of that group to create a page with some information about what’s happened in the last 18 years with pictures of the family.
Its amazing how technology has made it so easy for anyone to create content that is enjoyable. Most classmates spend hour upon hour reading each page with detail before posting their own information. Each page that is created gives a glowing perspective on what’s going on with their lives and their families. Its right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
When the consumer takes on the role of the marketeer… how effective can marketeers be in reaching those individuals through traditional mediums?
Even now, I want individuals to come to my site… leave a comment… enjoy their stay. But, my traffic is low. I haven’t built the infrastructure of linklove required to show up in the relevant search results. I’m now focused on how to promote my site in order to fulfill my lizard brain need for love and acceptance.
Companies that provide a customer with a venue to promote themselves will begin to endear that customer. Especially since we all have a small bit of anxiety that we may not be in the types of relationships that will allow us to accomplish the goals we have.
July 19th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Hmmm… that’s so interesting. I’m really fascinated by the need (that you richly describe) people have to connect and they way that social networking and other Internet technologies are providing to meet that need. And the response of people leads me to believe that this need has been very strong and had not to little outlet because, again as you suggest, of the social isolation people have been feeling in the ‘real-world.’ So fascinating.