Why We Jump In

Why We Jump In
-The psychology and motivation behind why people generate content.

There is always a discussion around consumer generated media and how crowd sourcing will be the next big thing. So, I decided to create this outline to help identify the key drivers behind people and how or why they choose to jump in and participate with your brand, or your idea. Here they are:

Art
Age-old expressionism. Artists entertain, and create spectacular things for people to react to.

Contest
I'm not really that interested. Pay me and I'll throw something in. Who knows? I may win something.

Themes
Commonality creates community. America's funniest animal videos. "You have a cat that does tricks? Send us a video—you can play too." Cat Lolz.

Fandom
Different from themes. They are more intense. When there is a swell of interest around a pop cultural or group topic, fans express themselves and wear their pride on their sleeves. Live Strong. Go Yankees.

Protest of Beliefs
Taking a side. Making a point. Together each and every action creates a larger reaction. Protesting your beliefs, your standards is the result of a democracy. A forum for personal opinion.

Fame or Narcissism
Would you jump off a bridge to be famous? Dress up as the opposite sex? Make a video everyday until it consumes your life. Just to be famous for 15 seconds?

Demonstration of Talent
Home video camera's have always been used for documenting the small stuff. However, the video of your talent can travel to 1 million people today. Exposure and reach increases motivation.

Entertainment
This is a somewhat undefined term as it relates to internet content. What is entertaining to you? Now that videos can be uploaded anonymously and the director never gets to fail.

Why we don't jump in: Because you asked me to.

Comments

[AndreaVLewis]

Each person brave enough to actually send their content out into the world wide web, definitely has their own unique mixture of the above variables. Making their reasons for producing content, both unique and similar at the same time.

The foundation of social media and ultimately the principles of crowd-sourcing involve getting feedback on how to solve a particular problem through leveraging your community's expertise and knowledge to work towards a common goal.

Great post Michael! Thanks for sharing.