Lately, I’ve been using Quora for casual reading. In part, it’s an easy way for me to be more curious about the world by piggy backing off the curiosity of others. Hahah. But also, I’ve always been amazed by websites that rely on user contributed content where there’s no financial motivation for sharing.
I know, I know; Wikipedia and Reddit have been around for like a decade each and have proven that sharing can work. And I’ve done quite a bit of “pro-bono” sharing myself, filming free SAT Math lessons on Youtube way back in the day. But it surprises me still, and I’ve been hypothesizing about why…
Sharers have to love what they are sharing. I draw this conclusion from a couple of experiences: 1) trying to get kids to teach each other vocabulary at Gotbrainyand 2) trying to get consumers to share deals on products they just purchased during my time at Curebit, a company that builds tell-a-friend widgets. In the former case, kids didn’t seem to care enough to share unless prodded by their teachers, which makes sense in retrospect: who would teach vocabulary for fun instead of play videogames? (Facepalm). In the latter case, people shared products they loved, but financial incentives couldn’t compensate for mediocre products (at least margin-friendly ones because I’m sure outrageous incentives could make anyone share).
If they can’t have fortune, then how about fame? Motivation still needs to be present, and recognition can be a powerful motivator. Maybe not everyone is like this. Certainly, plenty of philanthropists make generous donations anonymously. But at least, I can attest to wanting it, and it seems to be the rationale behind badges.
Sharers need to be able to empathize with the recipient. I originally thought that some folks are more likely to give than receive, and they would fit the profile of a sharer. But then I thought, would even the most giving person share with a dickhead? Maybe not. So sharers probably need to have a capacity for empathy, and the more they can relate to the recipient, the more likely they are to share.
Something I’m leaving off of this list is that the process for sharing needs to be easy. My business partner has argued that the fact that Youtube made uploading simpler than any of their competition was a big reason why they became the world’s top video sharing site. And I concur that it does matter. But making sharing easier seems more like a multiplier effect than a driving factor.
I can’t think of a good way to conclude this blog entry because it’s really not a fully formed thought. So lemme just say, I’ll edit/add to this as I ponder the topic more…
