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Fascinating. I’m curious what were the landscape of MOs you/company evaluated. Eg: would it have been possible to encourage a slightly more organized relationsh
by ssivark 5y ago
Fascinating. I’m curious what were the landscape of MOs you/company evaluated. Eg: would it have been possible to encourage a slightly more organized relationship with the enthusiasts by communicating the challenges to them?
- PragmaticPulp 5y agoIt’s tough. I engaged with the community a lot at first and we made efforts to give them what they wanted. Over time this created a weird, unhealthy dynamic where parts of the community felt entitled to special treatment from the company. Some of them felt like they were stakeholders in the company and that we were obligated to incorporate them into the development process. At worst, it reminded me of some of the “parasocial” relationships described in social media situations, where the followers start to feel like they were owed much more than regular customers due to their dedication as super customers. Even worse, some of them had their own YouTube channels, newsletters, or Discord communities for our products and would often threaten to turn them against us if we didn’t do what they wanted. That part was especially saddening.
- ssivark 5y agoHmmm, that’s interesting in an unfortunate way that can only be learned from experience. I have wondered about why companies don’t better engage with enthusiasts / power users, and now I have a better appreciation for the challenges. Thanks for sharing.