I went out, bought loads of stuff, and once I’d eaten the Scotch Egg, I felt like I didn’t want any more.

So much for the triumph over hunger.

Media is a tough one, and a lot of people are moving toward portfolio careers. That seems to involve, more often than not, a lot of shouting.

Let’s take time, amidst all the shouting, to look out for each other a bit.

How can you help someone else to achieve their aims? How can you be someone to talk to?

You’d be surprised where it gets you.

It doesn’t have to be all selfish.

The developers of Formstack noticed that a lot of people were using the functionality of Formstack to allow their friends to ask questions of them from their blog.

It is always interesting when technology takes a turn like this. Twitter had a similar moment in its evolution when its users decided that they were going to use it for more than communicating what they were doing, and use it as a communication and messaging platform as well.

The very best companies respond to this, and either evolve the product (as Twitter did through the @mentions and Retweet functionality), or release a similar, related product which meets the users needs. It is about being responsive to demand, and not imposing your vision on your users. Smart stuff.

So then, Formspring is a platform which enables you to ask questions of other users. You can ‘follow’ users (although following on Formspring is an anonymous act – no one knows who is following and how many followers they have), and ask them questions either anonymously or through your account.

They are of course free to reply, and when they do, the answer will appear in their stream, and you will get an email notification telling you that you have been answered.

It is also possible to ask questions of a large group of people as well (although you cannot ask questions of groups of people anonymously). The effect this has is curious, beginning in effect a group discussion, where many new strands of questioning  will emerge from that. My question on whether people could give up Facebook for a month drew a lot of responses, and generated some interesting discussion for example.

What then, do I like about the platform? Firstly, I think it seems to be a more human engagement platform than Twitter. I remember being on Twitter in the relatively early days here in the UK, and it seemed like a great conversational platform. It then became taken over with a lot of shouting, a lot of people becoming human RSS feeds, frustrated radio DJs, etc. There doesn’t (yet) seem to be any of that ‘pushing’ of content that has become so prevalent on Twitter.

The second point is a cultural one. I get asked things by people on Formspring that I would never get asked on Twitter, and it gives me the opportunity to express myself and think in a new way. People’s main method of getting to know you on Formspring is by asking you about yourself, and other people have a habit of asking you questions which you would never ask yourself or think to share on Twitter. This is partly driven by people having the cover of anonymity too.

Thirdly, there are no follower numbers. Follower numbers corrupt Twitter, and distort how people behave on Twitter. People always have one eye on the follower count and metrics, and sometimes follow and engage with people that they otherwise wouldn’t in order to increase their follower count. By stripping away the follower count (in fact, the only visible metric is the number of questions answered), this behaviour doesn’t come into play so much.

Fourthly, you are free to frame the discussion in any way you want. It is a more radically open tool than Twitter, as Formspring allows you to define the question which you are going to answer. Some people leave this open, some limit the framework of discussion. You are of course free to not answer questions too (and if you don’t answer a question, no one will know that it has even been asked).

So do I have reservations about the platform? Yes. The anonymous element worries me hugely, particularly with the site’s popularity with younger users. There is potential for Formspring to facilitate bullying, and I have spoken to a number of Formspring users who have had a problem with it. To its credit, Formspring has brought in features allowing users to block abusive commenters, but this may be difficult to facilitate and police when the site allows you to ask questions anonymously and without even logging in.

My second reservation would be that people are deterred from using the platform because of its early use cases. I was asked by a friend in the media whether it was a ‘gay platform’ (it’s not), for instance. It’s true that some of the questions and responses would probably be viewed as oversharing, and that some are even a little x-rated (the site is predominantly used by teenagers, after all), but I think this is just something to accept in the evolution of the platform. In the end, the final decision over what to share (as always) rests with the user.

I have a sense that the site may be about to hit a tipping point where it becomes the next big thing. With that is going to come its own issues. For now, I’m happy to enjoy a great and interesting new platform.

I’d be interested to get your comments, or ask me questions at http://formspring.me/kristiancarter

“To be honest, I don’t think it would hurt too much. I’d have much more trouble without email or twitter.”

“i think i could, i can do a week without it, so long as am with friends and keeping myself occupied yes x)”

“Easily as I despise its very existence…furthermore, I’d insist that Facebook be banned for a month and anyone caught using it be used for fuel…FOR FUEL!!!!!”

“Probably. I went for 3 weeks with out it whilst I was revising for my exams. I’m so used to checking it on my laptop or phone, but after a few days it was fine… although I started using Twitter a lot more lol.”

“yeh id just be very bored”

“Yeah I could live without it for a month.”

“Probably, I’d find another way to entertain myself, but it would annoy me not using it”

“Definitely. I could give up Facebook tomorrow but I don’t because it’s too popular with people. Twitter would be harder to give up but I often give up both when I’m on holiday. Facebook is pretty useful for the gigging musician though!”

“I don’t use Facebook. So, yes of course : )”

“I’ve not actually used Facebook properly in a while, but probebly not. I like to store pictures there, and keep in touch with people!”

“Definitely! & hi! Why do you look familiar..? *confused*”

“Yeah for sure, i dont really like facebook, i just have it.”

“Probably. Its twitter id die without.”

“yes i think i could but Twitter NO”

“Probably , but not Twitter!!”

“I could, because I have some sort of life. Maybe if it were a month and a half”

“yes (:”

“Probably not tbh, i’m an addict “

“With out a doubt yes. I rarely use facebook any more it has gotten too cluttered and I feel that facebook lost it’s original purpose. I couldn’t live without twitter though.”

“Ehh probz not but I could give it a shot :B couldn’t live with out Twitter though! :L”

“I could live without any internet, if i had the money to stay alive, I suppose. Maybe not forever, but one month should be ok.
The only problem is, that I use the internet mostly for my projects and my business. It’s supposed to bring me money soon, so I have to stay connected. But I enjoy being internet free a lot, if I forget my mobile at home, for example. It’s a shame that many people have most of there social life on the internet these days…”

“YES!”

“Yes. easily, twitter is a different story though”

“Oh yes. Easily.”

“Hell no!”

“I admit… I’m a facebook whore. I can live without it, but just without it, no one will remember me.”

“For sure would be strange at first, but for a month, no stress.”

“YEAH!
easily..but not Twitter”

“Yes. I pretty much lived without the net for months when our old provider went all weird, only nipping on every now and again. I wouldn’t want to though “

“Nope”

“I could live without facebook forever. it’s shite. “

“I wouldn’t like to, but yeah I could.”

“Yeah, absolutely. I use Twitter far more often than Facebook these days, and I very rarely go online to check what’s going on. It’s handy for keeping in touch with certain people, but most of my friends on there are old school friends who I’ll probably never talk to again.

Could I go a month without Twitter? That’s a whole other issue. Maybe, but it’d probably be the end of me using Twitter, as I’d just get so behind and uninterested with it.”

“easily”

“Easy. Hardly use it. only really use Twitter.”

“yeah lol”

“Yes. I’ve actually “quit” facebook a couple of times, but relucantly come back.
I suppose it would be difficult. The real trouble is that so much socal organising is done on facebook. I wouldnt miss the photos, the inane quizes or the like… but its the only means of communication I have with some people, and its the only way some parties are organised thesedays. Quit facebook and miss out on real world fun too “

“most definately not. “

“No I really couldn’t. Well if I was sponsored maybe :p”

“You make it sound like I actually like facebook “

“yes “

“Probably not… i check it all the time and speak to lots of friends on facebook”

“Easily, I hardly use it as it is – thanks to Facebook Apps, drove me away. Could you?”

“I have!”

These results are interesting, and again, by no means a representative sample. The consensus seems to be that most people could do it though.

What do you think? I’d be interested to get your comments below.

Culturally, we are trying to impose order where there is none. The past few years have allowed high-end production technology to fall into the hands of people who previously would have had no access to it due to budgetary constraints. When this trend began to make its presence felt, we saw the breakthrough of major players across arts and culture – from Babycakes in fashion to TechCrunch and Mashable in news. The same forces that allowed a fashion label to be born from a teenager’s bedroom gave rise to the possibility of major news sites being born using Open Source blogging platforms.

The future, for a while, looked like it would be characterised by unlikely successes in fashion, news, art, society, music, and culture. It looked like brands would be able to gain cultural mileage by acting like MCs, and engaging, involving, and employing those on the way up. Marketers channeled resources into enabling current ‘talent’ to appeal to various segments. An example of this segment driven approach is Sony Music Gateway. Under categories such as ‘Trendanistaz’ ‘Tipping Pointers’ and ‘Cool Career Girls,’ Sony sought to build a map of people’s music tastes. A bold header, under the crimson red title of ‘Insight’ screams that ‘Segmentation is the key to getting it right.’

While people were willing to segment themselves, this approach worked well. There was a time when we were happy to define ourselves. We packaged ourselves as products, for people who were browsing our social networking profiles to skim through quickly. We reasoned that if people could not easily identify us as belonging to a certain tribe, we did not exist. For marketers, this made the job of marketing to this brave new world relatively simple. Okay, so it wasn’t about top-down messaging anymore, but it was about finding and identifying the relevant people in these groups, and supporting them. Be an enabling brand.

This process would be made easier for marketers by the possibility of creating microsites to ‘hyper-target’ specific audiences, and keyword targeting within social networking sites such as Facebook.  However, younger audiences in particular have grown tired of defining themselves in this way, and as such, brands are going to have to readjust their thinking once more.  The approach does not resonate with younger audiences, and brands that attempt to segment are often derided.

One of the BBC’s first acts when commissioning its soon to be cancelled youth-oriented ‘Switch’ programming segment was to commission a microsite called ‘Them.’  This microsite looked at teenage ‘tribes,’ and featured groups such as ‘Nu-raver’ ‘Indie’ and ‘Mosher’ (to the BBC’s credit, at least the names of the groups were vaguely recognisable.)

The content which was produced for Them inadvertently reveals just how tired the younger generation are of being cast in this way. Amy, the girl chosen to profile the ‘indie’ youth segment, states ‘I was listening to the radio when I was 14, and the song which came on was Golden Touch by Razorlight, and that’s when I became indie.’

Amy’s comments are clearly made with tongue in cheek, and intended a deliberate, biting satire on the whole process, yet the production team swallowed it whole to the extent that they were prepared to use it on the BBC website. And in truth, it serves the BBC right for thinking that they could get away with such cynical, mindless garbage masquerading as social commentary.

The ‘Them’ project should rightly be held up as the nadir of tribal thinking amongst marketers. We should not be lulled into thinking, however, that the BBC’s approach was good thinking badly implemented. The truth is that we are becoming less tribal in general. The next step in digital democratisation is a democratisation of production.

We are moving beyond the idea of individuals with ‘grand ambitions,’ and certainly beyond the idea of these coalescing into grand ‘trends’ or ‘demographics.’  If sites like TechCrunch and Huffington Post end up being the last of the giant blogs, the future is an explosion of sites like FuckYeahLadyGaga.

Technological tools are now supporting the free and easy creation of content, and thus, culture  and content is becoming more disposable.  When the barriers to creating content are so low, it means that the inherent transaction cost of creating that content is lower too. People can afford to throw 15 ideas out into space without caring whether any of them get any attention.

For marketers, this means that small fires are being started everywhere, without concern for whether this contributes to an overarching trend. This makes the marketers task of packaging this content into tribes, trends, and segments and remarketing them back almost impossible.

Furthermore, in an environment where everyone is more or less doing their own thing, each piece of content does not connect enough people to meaningfully package it into a trend or segment anyway.

Although many of us will not stop trying to feel for the pulse, and while the technological tools at our disposal support an endless struggle to capture the zeitgeist, it feels far more like a time for one-hit wonders than it does for heroes.