The Pre-Internet Man

The information and entertainment needs of the Pre-Internet Man were pretty simple. In the morning, he functioned in a programmed mode with very limited time.

On most mornings, he had virtually no time for entertainment and the 'actionable information value' that he derived from reading a newspaper was pretty small.

Yet, the pre-internet man dutifully performed the ritual of reading a newspaper or watching the morning TV.

On his commute, he listened to NPR (or its place-equivalent cousin), or sought to be entertained by Music, depending on whether he enjoyed being informed or entertained. So, typically, he pre-set his tuner to the Radio Station that catered to his general taste.

In the evening, he loved to unwind from the hard day behind, by switching on the Television at the appointed-time, to watch his favorite show.

During the weekends, he had more time to unwind and laze around in front of the Television and flip to different channels, based on his mood. The hundreds of channels were abundant enough, to keep him mighty happy.

Mass Media worked to serve these needs, by providing a secure sense of predictability in his life as well as function as a social object for his watercooler conversation.

The current Early Internet Man behaves much like a kid in her toy room, who wants all the toys from the store, yet plays mostly with a few select toys. He tends to spend more time searching for the toy, rather than enjoy playing with a toy.

Traditional media was curated for the mass, as well as talent was filtered. The Early Internet man has tasted the fun of the unfiltered authentic 'unprogram' culture that has emerged with the coming of the internet.

Yet, he carries a huge burden to filter from the long-tail of contents, the ones that does not fit his worldview and taste etc.,, which takes up significant amount of his time and hence the analogy with the kid in her toy room.

No, the solution ain't a digital way to 'fastflip' his newspaper or youtube search Videos, but an Uber-Media device that provides a personal newspaper-equivalent in the morning,personal TV Programming in the evening and a personal-curated Netflix.

For, Personalized Curation is the one and only way to preserve the richness and diversity afforded by the long-tail.

6 Questions for Seth Godin

Transcript of Vasu's interview with Linchpin Author Seth Godin.

Vasu: Let us start off with Peter Drucker's Wise Words:"There is always a need for some selling. But, the aim of Marketing is to make selling superfluous. How do you see this notion manifest in this Age of the Connected Consumption"?


SETH GODIN: I am not sure I agree with you that Marketing makes selling superfluous. They do very different things.

I believe that the goal of Marketing is to tell a Story, that spreads, to create products that people are truly interested in buying. The goal of selling is to overcome the fear people have of saying yes.

You need both of them in most situations.We don't to get rid of all the Salespeople in the world. There are very very few products or services that it could honestly be said, could sell themselves.

That said, I think what we are seeing in our connected world is that Marketing is far more powerful than it used to be, because ideas spread further and faster than they used to, which puts the imperative on anyone who has an idea to spread, on anyone who wants to make a difference to create a product that people are actually gonna want to buy.


Vasu: In 1998, one of my co-workers spoke passionately about the Google Search Engine...and I tried it whenever Altavista did not return enough results.After 6 months, I was passionately recommending to, everyone I saw. Is this why, in one of the talks you mentioned that, Google is more about Marketing than about Technology?

SETH GODIN: Well, What I mean by that is, without Technology, Google could not have existed. However, the technology alone wasn't sufficient for them to deliver the value that they've delivered to users and Shareholders. That what has made Google successful is the Story that they tell. What has made them successful is many of the essential Marketing decisions that they've made, that have been so correct, I believe technology has merely enabled that.


Vasu: Products like Starbucks, function naturally, to use Gaping Void's term,Social Objects. I like the Ambience,the WIFI, the convenience of meeting someone in the 3rd place. But, I personally like, Dunkin' Donuts Coffee better. But in conversations, the third place aspect gets remarked in conversations, rather than the Quality of Coffee. Another example is Sergey Brin's Shoes, that he wore at that Conference, a couple of months back. Everybody is talking about it in Social Media. If my competitor has a product more naturally remarkable than mine. Is there anyway I can fix it?

SETH GODIN: Well, you better. I guess my argument is, if you have an average product for average people and all you gonna do, is argue about it.all you gonna do is yell about it. all you gonna do is push it on people. Then you have an uphill battle, don't you?


Vasu: iPhone has millions of us as walking commercials. What more,could an iPhone Television Commercial possibly accomplish?

SETH GODIN: Well OK. What happens is that some people are open to hearing from friends. Some people make a decision about a significant purchase, based on what they hear from friends. Other people, whether through training or inclination have a different approach. Their approach is that, they need to know that something is substantial enough, that they are not going to get into trouble. They need to know, that its' famous. that its real. that its gonna work for them...and that means that they get a lot of security and pleasure out of seeing it advertised on Television. That seeing advertised on Television, puts into a new spot in their head, in terms of their understanding of what it is and so Apple benefits by buying those Ads.

Vasu: I personally like to watch Commercials, provided they are entertaining and are in my zone of interest personally. Dave Ogilvy said, "Advertising is about inventing a promise that the viewer could relate to. How do you see ads playing out in this Age of the Tribes?

SETH GODIN: I think, what we saw for the last forty years, is ads that didn't deserve to succeed paying for themselves. Ads for Average Stuff. Ads for commodities.Ads with obnoxious jingles in them. Ads that we watched, because we really had no choice. Those are gonna go away. We are gonna to still see ads around, that talked to the masses. that connect us in a different way. we still gonna see ads around annnoucing things or create tribes or that connect us. But, we are gonna see the end of,you know,the Palmolive or Tide detergent ads that people don't care one bit about.


Vasu: Let us say, my friend belongs to the third generation of the Bakers, making the finest Sliced Bread, in our county. His father Joe could not do much to scale up, this word-of-mouth reputation, that his grandfather built. Recently my friend took over the business and realized that his customers love them, because no one makes Fresh Bread like them Period. In this age of the Social Media, What should my friend do to Scale his footprint?

SETH GODIN: First of all, I would imagine that for the vast majority of people in his market. They don't agree with your statement. That no one makes sliced bread like he does.

Because, what they are looking for, from Sliced Bread, might not be, what he thinks is important in Sliced Bread. Maybe, they want it to be cheap or convenient or delivered with a Smile. maybe, they want it delivered to their home. Maybe, they want to go the store, where buying in that store, makes them feel special, maybe they want it to be organic or available at the Whole Foods Market. I mean, there are a million reasons, people buy bread and the best one period is not one of them.

And so we need to start there. We need to understand that lots of people, tell themselves different stories. They have different world-views. I would then ask this person, why are you trying to grow your business. growing your business might not be the right plan. But, if you are trying to grow your business. Who do you want to add to your customer list. Because you can't add everybody.

How are you going to build a core group of people who are passionate enough about your bread that, they will drive across town or fly across the country to buy it. and if that's true, what do you have to change your offering. whether its the price or the product or the way it's sold or the story you tell, so that these people would be eager to buy from you.


Vasu: so the definition of remarkable is not what you perceive but what your tribe perceives, right?

SETH GODIN: Thats exactly right. All the word remarkable means, is that someone made a remark about it.

Sergey Brin's Cool Shoes

When I saw Sergey Brin's Cool Shoes in that Video, I thought "Wow!, cool shoes". Then I saw it getting 'remarked' in Social Media a lot.

Now I started wondering, "What unfair advantage, this coolness attribute could have over another brand of "extremely comfortable and durable Shoes". Particularly in this era of the connected consumption.

I asked the Best-Selling "Purple Cow" Author Seth Godin, 6 questions leading to what is "remarkable?"

What is Marketing and why is Google about Marketing?

Starbucks, Sergey Brin's Shoes and why an iPhone TV Commercial?

Ads in the Age of the Tribes

What is "remarkable" in Sliced Bread?

Thanks Seth for taking the time amidst your busy 'Linchpin' launch week.

The Mess Web 2.0 made

Back when things were quieter,individuals by their sheer brilliance, created original objects of value: painting, music, books, equations to name a few.

Then the Scientific Method came along, where we stood on the "Shoulders of Genius" and saw things that would not have been possible otherwise, by systematically deriving, from the works of others.

Along came Ford. He kindled within us, the need to produce tons of objects, 'efficiently'. Computers elevated our collective pursuit for efficiency to an even grander scale.

Then something happened: the web 2.0,The Web is functioning as the great leveler, by bringing in the lazy to the same platform as the industrious, the absolutely talentless alongside the remarkably talented.

Except for the occasional Susan Boyle, these unwashed masses,are gradually ruining the place. Or to use Andrew Keene's aptly pejorative phrase, "creating digital forests of mediocrity". It is getting a lot harder to judge the fact from the fiction.

We are at a risk of collapse of the system , that we meticulously built thus far, through the toil of countless people. It is at this very stage, the trend of curation is starting to emerge.

Curation is the golden thread, that connects the individual to the artificial intelligence that we have created, i.e., the systems, processes etc.,

Curation, in isolation,merely appears to be an act of people choosing what they care about. But, in the larger scheme of things, its impact is grander like the Scientific Method and is our only savior to the mess Web 2.0 has made.

Content Curation and the Big Feast Ritual

A Tribe not in contact with the rest of Humanity, was found in the Amazon. Everyone from the Tribe escapes and swims in the River excepting Adam, who was too shocked to move.

Prof. Brown thinks fast and offers him the Pecan Pie, that he brought along from Long Island. Adam after some hesitation, eats it and does a remarkable thing. He does an ecstatic Tribal Dance and dozes off after a while.

When he wakes up, Bob approaches Adam with his Food. Adam is about to jump into the River, when they withdraw and keep the food in the nearby Rock. Adam sniffs the food and does not take the food ...and thus the “Big Feast Ritual” began.

They install a bell near the rock that Adam can ring, any time he wants food. The Team has an infinite supply of food suppliers from around the world.

They pick a pool of suppliers which they think would appeal to Adam. Then, they pick one tray and keep it in the Rock and run away, whenever Adam rings the bell. Adam sniffs the food and does one of two things, he takes it with him to the bush or rings the bell again. But, just because Adam takes the food with him, does not mean that he likes the food.

We do not have an idea, if he consumed at all. Though, he comes back to ring the bell again. Also, we cannot rely on the time between the bell rings, as a sign that he consumed, as the other day, he consumed a tin of Rosagullas in three seconds, flat and did the Tribal Dance.

Prof. Brown says: "Our goal is to ensure that, Adam comes back to ring the bell often and hopefully make him do the tribal dance." "During an eating session, where Adam could eat anything from a small number of items to a large number, our goal is to make the session longer and longer, so we must switch the caterer, if we have to, during the session."

"Also, we have to ensure that, we replace the non-performing caterer, based on some criteria and replace him with a new one from outside the pool."

2010 is poised to be the year of Content Curation and the organization that comes up with an efficient solution to keeping Adam happy would most certainly triumph.