Respectivize

Respectivize. What? Huh? I’m tired of incentivizing the userbase, and I’m beginning to think that it doesn’t work. Instead, it’s time to focus on respect rather than incentives. In the long run, respect goes a lot further.

Here’s an example: A little while ago I worked with a company that found the road to profitability and enormous profits all stemmed from getting a large group of users which they could manipulate to get a result. Basically they wanted to have a focus group at their disposal. So the path to getting that focus group ran through bands and musicians. The theory was if you got the band, you could get their fans. And so this company spent oodles of money on prizing, marketing, and events all geared toward getting bands involved. Once the bands were involved, they encouraged the bands to bring their fans and if their fans supported the bands then the bands would win all kinds of wonderous cash and prizes. Seems cool, right?

For a little while, this worked. The prizes were pretty cool, and the marketing was extremely slick. Overtime though, and not that much time, the process became unbalanced. The incentives had to get bigger and bigger to attract more and more bands/fans, and soon it became unwieldy. And the fans got nothing. They supported the artist, who got the prizes, but there was nothing for the fans who were (technically) enabling the artists. No respect for the fans without whom nothing is possible.

The other day, I sat in a meeting where we were discussing newsletters, blogging, and overall approaches to writing. In the course of the conversation, I realized that my go to guide for style and grammar was unknown to these interns. In the era of spelling and grammar check, my dogeared copy of “The Elements of Style” was outdated. This, to me, was horrifying. While these guys are both extremely intelligent, I thought they could both benefit by meeting Mr. Strunk and Mr. White. So the next day, presented to each of them, was their own copy. It wasn’t a pricy purchase, but it shows that I respect these guys, and thought this was something they should have. Simple, to the point, and not intended to get them to do something for me (like in the company mentioned above).

Another example: I had a doctor’s appointment recently. Normally, I expect a nurse to handle most of the appointment, and for the doctor to take a few minutes to come in, look things over, make a decision. This time though, the doctor sat, asked a LOT of questions, explained his thought process, listened to my concerns, and made me feel less like the patient, and more like part of the process. It was a level of respect and courtesy that I haven’t seen in a long time. I left the appointment feeling confident about my choice of doctor and the prescribed plan for treatment.

Ultimately, the Internet and marketing especially, throw stuff at you. The user is bombarded with ideas and has to make more decisions with less information than ever before. You would think that the Internet would’ve provided more information, faster. But it doesn’t. It just provides MORE. And “more” isn’t better. And “more” isn’t useful. And “more” just obfuscates things further.

Respecting your audience, whether they’re fans, musicians, patients, or interns requires you to listen to them. Hear what they’re telling you and act accordingly. Don’t offer prizes, offer opportunities. The chance for growth and understanding goes a lot further than you think.

P.S. From Chapter 3 of “The Elements of Style” – wise advice too often unheeded ….

“5. Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”