Significance and Exclusivity

Dr. Howard talks about the importance of significance when marketing a social website. Significance is a very interesting concept. I remember a fitness website a couple of my friends were into last year. The site was invitation only. I have to admit that my interest was piqued simply by the fact that I could not immediately go into the site and poke around.

However, having to wait for an invite also turned me away from the site. It took a week or two for my email to come that granted me access to the site, and by then, I simply wasn't as interested. Maybe it was the wait and maybe it had to do with me not being all that interested in fitness. In any case, I think implementing exclusivity with a site can be a very fine line to walk.

Dr. Howard uses Facebook as an example of a successful site that grew from its exclusivity. But I think it's important to realize that Facebook's exclusivity happened by accident. The site started as a tool for all students at one specific college to use. As more and more people heard about the site, it started branching out to other colleges until eventually it was available worldwide.

While Facebook's exclusivity may have helped it become more significant and desirable, Facebook had no original intention of going worldwide. It was simply meant a tool for everyone at one college. It was never intended to go larger. This makes Facebook's growth and popularity seem like a natural phenomenon than a business plan.

So what of websites with the business plan to build exclusivity and eventually go large? Do they have the patience to start small, like Facebook and slowly build themselves to global popularity? I think it's possible, but I also think it's more difficult when you have that high level of popularity as a starting goal. It would appear that you have to set small goals and then work your way up.

But, there's a problem with starting small as well. As Dr. Howard mentioned, Facebook users felt betrayed when the site became all inclusive. College students across the country had found a place to hang out among friends. Including mom and dad and random other people ruined the exclusive community they had found.

How do you start small and go big without alienating your audience? I'm not sure it's possible. As Dr. Howard explains, when you start off exclusive, you are not looking for the everyday user. You are looking for influential people who can spread the word about your site. As with the fitness website, I image it didn't hurt them much that I didn't hold interest in the site since they were looking for interested people who could spread the word. Clearly that wasn't me.

But when you change your site to inclusive, you are no longer looking for the influential. Word of your site has spread. Now you are looking for numbers, so you want the everyday users. Maybe some people leave the site because the exclusivity has gone. Ideally, the number of people who leave will be much smaller than the number of people who come in (if the site changes from exclusive to inclusive at the right time). But I think this all take careful planning and patience. Business hoping to "make it big" quick are going to be disappointed.

I think it's important to also note that significance isn't just built through exclusivity. While exclusivity may have helped people come to Facebook, I believe many people stayed because they had found another form of significance -- the ability to connect with friends and family in ways they hadn't been able to before. I believe a site can build significance for itself without being exclusive. I also believe that building significance beyond exclusivity is also important because exclusivity in and of itself is not enough to make users stay, just enough to attract users. And that's where the rest of RIBS comes in.