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25/05/08 Narrower Niches Wider Conversation
DUBLIN, IRELAND - I’m just in from a run on the cliffs in Howth. I have road-run in London, Dublin, Singapore and in a gym on a treadmill and nobody would look up. Yet when you narrow a shared activity down to a very small sub-set of people, 100% of people out walking today said a variation of “Hi”, “Keep going!”, “Morning”, “You’re nearly at the top”, “Nice day for it”. These were not all locals, many were foreign. I did not know any of them. It was just we were both socialising around a narrow object, the cliff path.
When the number of people partaking in an activity reaches a certain level the conversation drops as it becomes commonplace. I could run through the village here and pass the same people and nobody would look up, because we’re not sharing a narrow enough activity.
This is mirrored online. The bigger the community, the less conversation. The wider the activity or object to socialise around, the less conversation. Facebook has done well with its networks - but I still feel this will be Facebook’s achilles heel. We ain’t seen nothing yet in online social activity and I’m not sure Facebook will surpass the village noticeboard while extremely niche networks will take up the role of the pub, bingo hall, library and youth centre.
It is very interesting that…
The narrower the niche the wider the conversation.
So cliff paths are social objects too then.
-Robin.
5 Comments
Less a social object, more a past time (in the games people play sense of the word). You are unlikely to form a link (bond, relationship) on the basis of that exchange. Instead its a “stroke” (again in games people play language) that helps you both get over the difficultly of being driven closer together than you would comfortably allow because of the narrowness of the path.
As such, I think it fails my social object test, that a social object should be a catalyst that accelerates the creation of social networks.
very interesting… I never thought of the width of the channel as factor. you’re right, that was a major factor.
“The narrower the niche the wider the conversation.”
Can’t agree more on this comment. Precisely!
05/06/08 Charlie
Agree with your observations, but is it not also something to do with the fact that the Irish are among the most sociable in the world? I’ve found it amazing how some (brief) banter (yes, even in London) with a stranger while on a run can really give some added energy!
21/07/09 Iarfhlaith Kelly - Code agus Craic » Blog Archive » Tuesday Push - MyTown.ie
[...] It’s operating in a narrow channel. [...]
