Should You Use “Bribes” To Get New Community Members? – Seth Godin
on Feb 2, 2009 - 10:28 AM PSTIt’s hard to get the first members of a community. So why not bribe people to join? Some of the past Mixergy interviews suggest that it’s the way other communities start.
Here’s a response to that issue from Seth Godin, founder of Squidoo and author of Tribes:
Let’s be really clear on the simantecs. A “bribe” is when you give somebody money to do something that is against their nature or against their fiduciary duty. When you give a congressperson money to vote against her constituents.
I don’t think bribes are a good idea. I think that recognition and rewards are a great idea.
If you go to any spiritual institution, there’s always some layman up on the podium who’s being recognized for doing something. A friend of mine worked for the pope of the Eastern Orthodox Church. They had a brand new building in Istanbul.
He walked in and there are pictures of all the popes who’ve been there before, lining the walls. And right over the guy’s shoulder is a more modern one. He says, “Who’s that?”
The Pope said, “Oh, that’s Dr. So and So from New Jersey. He gave us the money to build the building.”
I’m not sure he did it so he could get his oil painting in there. I don’t think it’s a bribe. But I think it’s recognition.
What tribe leaders understand is that you need to treat different people differently. And that different people are going to contribute differently. And that recognizing them makes perfect sense.
The other thing that you notice is that tokens and prizes and rewards are valued far out of proportion to their costs. Because people don’t do it for the ball of cotton from China. They do it because being recognized is one the things humans want more than anything else.
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February 6th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Andrew,
Surely you’re not suggesting that I counseled in favor of using monetary bribes to jumpstart communities.
It’s an issue of semantics: if the word bribe *necessarily* means pecuniary compensation, it’s clear that a strategy predicated on bribery is destructive.
Check out this piece on MSFT Live Search Cashback for a great exploration of incentives and adverse selection: http://www.havasmedialab.com/?p=22
Thanks,
Ethan
February 6th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Ethan, I used to use the word “bribe” because I thought it was an honest description of how communities bring in their early users and keep their communities growing.
This video changed my understanding of what’s happening. It’s not bribes, it’s recognition and reward.
I keep sharpening my understanding of how communities start and grow. YOU have been a big help in that understanding. Thanks for that comment.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Thanks, Andrew!
I know how you feel; because of the glut of poor community design and the “success” of some less-than-forward-thinking strategies, it’s hard not to be cynical ;-)
Concerning great non-adverse-selection-creating incentives, though, there are even more questions that have to be asked
(Some examples might be: interview with a C-level officer; photography lessons from NatGeo journalist; “expert” status within the community, etc):
The first, of course, is: what is it that people that I want to attract value?
The second is: do I have access to a scarce resource that addresses these needs/wants?
Another is: How do we scale demand for this incentive?
;-)
Thanks for a great discussion!
February 6th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
A more intelligible phrasing of that first question might read “What is it that potential [or current] community members value?”
One way to hack this is: ask them. That’s the beauty of personal media (oops, i mean “social” media ;-)