LATEST ENTRY

ATTENTION | Noah Brier

Passively Active

There's a huge group of people out there that are creating content without even thinking about it.

September 8, 2006 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 2 COMMENTS

All we hear is how small is the new big. Here's the truth: It's not.

Small is still the same old small. It's just more scalable than ever. Data's cheap and so is computing power. It's easier than ever to deliver customization and personalization.

The tides have shifted, we are in control.

People are dreaming "of talking directly to a business and sharing my personal data; where I am valued for this and rewarded with tailored/cutsomized services that design out assumptions and waste. And they are rewarded with my attention."

Scale used to dictate that everything must be equal, all products the same. It's not the case any longer.

The internet is redefining things. People are not content to have their world defined for them.

Not all of us feel this way. 80% are content to consume. We know what they want.

1% are content to be superusers. They create for creation's sake.

19% are stuck in the middle. They are passively active.

They are constantly passively creating content. They might not think of it that way, but the metadata footprint they leave is their blog. They have friends on Myspace and favorite videos on YouTube. They share pictures and post on forums.

Screw the 'consumer generated content' the advertising industry has declared. This one's the real deal. Millions of people are leaving their number and waiting for a call.

It's not about slapping ads on things, it's about thinking small and letting go.

Give me what I want and you'll be richly rewarded.

Update (9/8/06): Brad Feld on the other 19%.

Update (9/11/06): Organic on the 'new influencer.'

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY

LEAVE A COMMENT

First name, first and last, whatever you feel like.

Required, but not displayed (so don't worry about spam).

If you've got one, flaunt it.

You can use some HTML (a's, br's, p's, oh my!) if you'd like, if you don't know what that means, don't worry about it.
REMEMBER ME?

COMMENTS

1rehab

The internet is really redefining things! People's opinions are shifting..media has taking very exciting new shapes and forms. the passively active are also gaining a lot from the internet. Everyone is.

September 8, 2006

2Paul McEnany

Great post, Noah. I think it's interesting how these people have a tendency to jump from group to group. They are passive and active, and sometimes super-active, then back to passive again, depending on where they are and who they are interacting with.

September 9, 2006