July 14th, 2009
Sex, geeks and Blackbox Republic
The first time you meet Sam Lawrence, ex-CMO of Jive Software you just know he’s a specially talented marketing person. He’s a creative which for geeks should be an immediate affinity thing. Today, he, along with co-founder April Donato came out of stealth mode with Blackbox Republic, what he believes is the next iteration of social networking.
The first offering focuses on the sex positive community, something with which I was not familiar and which at first had me thinking that Sam had joined the Crazy Deranged Fools out in West Texas headed by cartoonist extraordinaire Hugh MacLeod. But no. Far from it.
Earlier in the week, Sam and April briefed me and I was aware that Oliver Marks had also been briefed. We compared notes. We both agree that despite its in your face attention grabbing first community, Blackbox Republic is onto something. Oliver’s take is particularly inspiring because he correctly argues that:
Any form of collaboration is intensely personal - it means letting go and trusting that the information you share, and by definition the power you have, will ultimately return value to you.
This is as true socially in your personal life as it is in a work situation. We’ve all been there - the noisy bar full of obnoxious people and the sinking feeling of wasting a night out, the participation in an online work space dominated by snarky colleagues destroying any sense of cameraderie or creativity. This typically results in the bar being ‘last months hip place’ and empty collaboration spaces online.
How often do you here that in a community building sales pitch?
So-called enterprise and community pundits have been trying to crack the community building code for what seems like years but when you stand back for a moment, what have they really been trying to do: get each of us to transact something as the price of our entrance into this brave new collaborative world. It should be no wonder that many of these efforts fail. I sense that with Blackbox Republic, a number of those same pundits are going to be eating large gobs of humble pie. Why? As I said elsewhere:
…anyone can join provided they’re willing to pay the $25 a month (I like that he has a pay model from the get go. That sorts out the weridos and hangers on from day one) but you can’t really connect with anyone unless they want to connect with you. That means you HAVE to add value and be seen as someone who gives so that you can get attention. That should create the kind of dynamic that breaks Nielsen’s 90-9-1 law of participation inequality. If it achieves that then Blackbox Republic has done something with which many of us in community building land have struggled.
Or as Oliver implies, Blackbox Republic starts by putting the trust issue right up front and making THAT the admission price for acceptance. Why should this have enterprise implications beyond those that Oliver discusses?
The last couple of years, I’ve been part of several very large communities where there is a significant level of peer respect. In one community, I’ve always had the feeling that somehow there was something missing and that sooner or later, someone would break ranks, opening the genie’s bottle on a topic that was bound to have far reaching consequences. That is because the community is not owned by the participants and so while members might respect one another there was always going to be a missing component. That genie bottle opening moment came the other week.
Some level of splintering has already occurred but I observed a radical change of position by at least one of the community managers. Now it seems, things that were once taboo are on the table. Issues that were difficult to get out in the open are freely discussed. Stuff that people have always anecdotally known are now revealed. To put it bluntly: the tide of BS has receded forever and things can now get done that truly matter to the community. There is no turning back. How does this relate to Blackbox Republic and the enterprise?
If you know that membership, connectedness and value depend almost entirely on authentic and trusted participation then you’re going to think really hard about the extent to which you’re going to push the boundaries of flaming and personalized criticism. If you believe that progress is made through honest, open and transparently shared experience then the environment that a Blackbox Republic style of operating offers will deliver huge value I’d hesitate to guess will exceed that which many of us originally thought when considering collaboration as the pathway to unlocking commercial value. Now to the geek world.
I sometimes wonder whether geeks feel marginalized. Suits often characterize them as plumbers, mechanics, unsocial types that have to be tolerated. Yet my experience is that geeks are amazingly funny, brilliantly creative and socialize more effectively than ‘normal’ people. They’re also intensely passionate about their area of expertise which can sometimes lead to levels of arrogance which some CEO’s I know might admire but which can be dealt with in communities of trust.
I anticipate the highlight of the year for me will be RIA Hacker Night at SAP TechEd. Why? Because it is surprising how many people I know who will hack stuff through the night. And there I was thinking I’m the only one who lives on permanent sleep deprivation to the point of wondering if I’m just weird. There are plenty more examples where that came from. Those sort of conversation starters lead down all sorts of paths that help bond people closer and more productively than any Facebook affiliation.
I’m sure there are many other examples but that’s the one that works for me. It is this notion of trusted affinity that for instance got me speaking with a colleague about lighting rigs for my new office in a mutually learning manner. His parting shot: “I’m glad you’ve got that worked out. I hate to see people waste time and money un-necessarily.” That’s a gift of assurance I can take away and pass on. A Blackbox Republic style of community would have allowed that to naturally emerge and be available to anyone.
If all of this is too touchy feely for you or sounds like an intrusion then these styles of community won’t work for you. If you’re working in a highly structured environment then this might be just the thing you and your business needs to both loosen up and find new creative value.
I’m betting that Sam and April have discovered something that is a game changer. It’s disruptive, innovative and highly Irregular.
Dennis Howlett has been providing comment and analysis on enterprise software since 1991. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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