Social Networking and the Geeks and Freaks

While the popular girls definitely have something to teach us about social networking...so do the high school freaks, geeks, nerds, punks, and wallflowers. For the lucky ones, being unique feels special even if validation from high school classmates is not forthcoming.

Online - or  in a big enough network - being unique separates individuals from the pack and makes it much easier to find others with similar interests. While the popular kids may be universally envied because they are widely recognized, it doesn't necessarily follow that those kids can find real friends any easier than those kids that were socially marginalized in high school. In fact, it is easy to see how it would quite possibly be much harder to develop deep friendships.

Indeed, punks for example, do an excellent job of marketing themselves to the population about which they most care and can very quickly identify like-minded friends. Online this translates into being about to form sub-networks really easily.

Enterprises should watch these kids as well because they understand marketing so well.  It may not be marketing to a broad base but they can very quickly consolidate their 'target market' and form deep ties.  While their networks may be smaller they are quite possible more stable.  Being all things to all people is a great way to be popular - and works if you are a toothpaste manufacturer - but the closer your brand comes to being used to express a consumer's personality, the more necessary it becomes to have a unique image rather than broad appeal. 

Comments

[Chris Yeh]

A note to everyone trying to be popular...just as in a beehive, there can only be one queen. If you try for the queenship but fail, would you have been better off following a more original approach?

Great meeting you today, Rachel!

[Rachel Happe]

Hi Chris -

Nice to meet you today as well. Thanks for stopping by and adding your perspective. Indeed even when you become a market leader in a growing market there are some disadvantages.

Rachel

[Britt Raybould]

The other ones to watch are the straddlers, the people who can easily move between the super popular and the unique. These individuals may not rise to the status of "queen bee" nor stick out on the level of a punk, but their ability to interact with all status levels makes them able carriers of trends and information between various groups.

[Rachel Happe]

Hi Britt -

You point out a key role in networks - the catalyst...probably more important in large networks than anyone else as they keep the entire network inter-connected.

Thanks for surfacing.

Rachel