The Echo Chamber
Most people reading this blog are hopefully aware of the little bubble that encircles the internet startup community's culture, mindshare, and perspective. It is one of those topics that makes for good link bait, but rarely do stories address the potential for observer error or ways to address it.
From a cultural standpoint, most people don't know what a "meme" is, much less what it means to be rick rolled or Lacyed. Which is common to every industry, association, or school, I'm sure... but there is something about the twitter echo chamber that makes them seem ubiquitous in such a way that it is particularly easy to lose perspective. Twitter is a good (if cliched) example. The vast majority of people have never heard of it. Really bright but non-bubble people don't understand when you explain it. But probably two-thirds of the new startups I've heard of in 2008 leverage twitter in some way. Think about it - their mass adoption (which is surely a success criteria, right?) requires graduation from a leap that most smart but non-internet culture people do not find intuitive.
Mindshare is the tricky part. You'd think with all the navel gazing that "outsider art" would be the norm, that the apps which find mass market appeal would be from the people who don't have the problems FriendFeed is trying to solve, i.e. 99% of the population. It just isn't the case though. Without knowing what's out there, what problems are being worked on, what's worked and what's failed, it is very difficult to pick an idea worth pursuing. Beyond competitive analysis, it's an educational foundation that is key to giving startups the best chance at success.
The power of the tools is another example of the absolute necessity of integrating with the bubble. To build a 3-tier .NET component for a web application used to be an assignment we'd set out an evening for. In Ruby it takes, oh, 20 minutes? Libraries, frameworks... it is definitely better building websites from the inside.
So as an entrepreneur, what do you take away? If you read my other postings about giving yourself the best chance of success, I think you have to completely disregard this entry, right? If your goal is mid seven figure early retirement, you should plan your strategy around a market worth mid seven figures. The echo chamber should have that. Mass market appeal is not. Additionally the buzz machine that causes you to lose perspective is an awe inspiring PR machine... at least inside the bubble. I hadn't heard of brightkite before yesterday morning... by 10am I'd seen at least a dozen disparate references.
Going after a niche is an obvious solution... maybe not a niche product like farecast but a niche market like buzz feed. Of course that requires a whole other bubble in which you'll need to become an expert in, but that comes with the territory. Either of these niches (product or market) seem to be talked about much less, but sold much more.
A really good way to deal with this paradox of needing to drink the kool aid to recognize the opportunities but losing touch with what everyday users care about when you do is to have advisors you trust who are on the fringes or outside the twitterverse entirely. When designing UX think about what your mom would use, not what Louis Gray would use. Be mindful of the potential for a PR strategy that relies heavily on "going viral" to steer your product toward the rocks of esoteria, even as you fully appreciate the spectacular power of an idea getting picked up. In essence I believe success is in walking a fine line by taking what you need from the echo chamber but not losing perspective in it.
From a cultural standpoint, most people don't know what a "meme" is, much less what it means to be rick rolled or Lacyed. Which is common to every industry, association, or school, I'm sure... but there is something about the twitter echo chamber that makes them seem ubiquitous in such a way that it is particularly easy to lose perspective. Twitter is a good (if cliched) example. The vast majority of people have never heard of it. Really bright but non-bubble people don't understand when you explain it. But probably two-thirds of the new startups I've heard of in 2008 leverage twitter in some way. Think about it - their mass adoption (which is surely a success criteria, right?) requires graduation from a leap that most smart but non-internet culture people do not find intuitive.
Mindshare is the tricky part. You'd think with all the navel gazing that "outsider art" would be the norm, that the apps which find mass market appeal would be from the people who don't have the problems FriendFeed is trying to solve, i.e. 99% of the population. It just isn't the case though. Without knowing what's out there, what problems are being worked on, what's worked and what's failed, it is very difficult to pick an idea worth pursuing. Beyond competitive analysis, it's an educational foundation that is key to giving startups the best chance at success.
The power of the tools is another example of the absolute necessity of integrating with the bubble. To build a 3-tier .NET component for a web application used to be an assignment we'd set out an evening for. In Ruby it takes, oh, 20 minutes? Libraries, frameworks... it is definitely better building websites from the inside.
So as an entrepreneur, what do you take away? If you read my other postings about giving yourself the best chance of success, I think you have to completely disregard this entry, right? If your goal is mid seven figure early retirement, you should plan your strategy around a market worth mid seven figures. The echo chamber should have that. Mass market appeal is not. Additionally the buzz machine that causes you to lose perspective is an awe inspiring PR machine... at least inside the bubble. I hadn't heard of brightkite before yesterday morning... by 10am I'd seen at least a dozen disparate references.
Going after a niche is an obvious solution... maybe not a niche product like farecast but a niche market like buzz feed. Of course that requires a whole other bubble in which you'll need to become an expert in, but that comes with the territory. Either of these niches (product or market) seem to be talked about much less, but sold much more.
A really good way to deal with this paradox of needing to drink the kool aid to recognize the opportunities but losing touch with what everyday users care about when you do is to have advisors you trust who are on the fringes or outside the twitterverse entirely. When designing UX think about what your mom would use, not what Louis Gray would use. Be mindful of the potential for a PR strategy that relies heavily on "going viral" to steer your product toward the rocks of esoteria, even as you fully appreciate the spectacular power of an idea getting picked up. In essence I believe success is in walking a fine line by taking what you need from the echo chamber but not losing perspective in it.
posted by aseever at
9:05 AM
1 Comments:
Great post. I read a book that talked about the echo chamber and I often feel that the community firing away on FF, Twitter, etc are a bit separated from what is going on in the Russel 2000. Still, the pieces they are playing with will slowly seep into the vendors that serve that market ... which is why I track the space. If you want to read like minded material ... you can check out my blog @ http://timbauer.bauerfive.com.
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