Billions With Zero Knowledge

When the author of my favorite manifesto, Hugh Macleod recently invited people to submit 500 word manifesto’s I was inspired to write this.

We’re more Viral than Ebola on a Hot Summer Day!

A well known venture capitalist recently asked me how viral our Internet community project will be. I wanted to scream.

Our service won’t be viral - it will be authentic.

It won’t infect the world - we hope to inspire a few who might invite us into their daily lives and share us with the many.

We won’t be for everyone - but we’ll strive to be meaningful to those who choose to spend time in our community.

We won’t be more viral than Ebola on a hot summer day! Do you really want to invest in a company that wants to be?

Language shapes behavior. What do your words mean?

We don’t talk about features to make our community spread in unwanted ways - we discuss removing barriers allowing authentic relationships to form. If our team doesn’t use this language, should our investors?

Buzzwords are alluring, spreading virally as memes that tap into the wisdom of crowds to create tipping points that are explained by freakonomics, enabling critical mass and cost effective word-of-mouth advertising to build crowdsourced marketing campaigns that will revolutionize <insert industry name while speaking in a sarcastic tone here>.

I’ve ordered the same books from Amazon. In fact you are welcome to have my copies. We would much rather explore unique paths, discovering new ways to make meaning.

We discuss providing a safe place for people to play, express emotions, establish authentic relationships, find meaning and express their voice to help change the world.

We refuse to be buzzword compliant. We will not optimize our service to spread like a virus. We will not establish war rooms, strike forces, or respond to requests to figure out how to “harness our communities intelligence” since that was a popular phrase you heard at a conference. The language of military attacks and viral plagues have no place in our community.

Your buzzwords do you a service to describe trends. We do not seek to be a trend. We seek to matter. Touching people’s lives lasts forever – and that is what we aspire to be. Meaningful.

The next time someone asks if our product is viral – here is our answer. Join us today in answering the same way. Maybe being viral is one virus worth curing.

On Thu 7 Dec 2006.