Seth Godin identifies a new digital divide, between the digerati and those who follow. Based on his criteria I qualify… should I be proud? More important question: are the digerati as influential as those of us in the echochamber all like to imagine?
As a result, your most-connected, most influential customers are part of the digerati. They can make or break your product, your service or even your religion’s new policies. Because the Net is now a broadcast (and a narrowcast) medium, the digerati can spread ideas.
Does this ideavirus (to use Godin’s term) truly spread beyond the echochamber? There is evidence aplenty that the media is paying attention, whether they are part of the mix or not, so the ideas probably do get more than their fair share of ink/pixels/decibels. But how much transfer really goes on? It’s a critical question when you’re designing services right now. Aim for the leaders, or just a bit behind them? The former is more fun, but getting to the right place too early doesn’t work, necessarily — though being there too late serves no purpose whatsoever. Anyway, answering the question of which customers matter fascinates me.