Comments on: The Connection Continuum — an invitation to collaborate on a community/relationship modelling tool

By: Media Driving with Jay Moonah » Post Topic » Who Are “They”?

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:46:08 +0000

[...] For the last few weeks, I’ve been working along with a number of other folks (including some of the very gracious and thoughtful readers of this blog) on something called the Connection Continuum. Although I’d hesitate to call this the ‘final’ version, I believe what we have so far could be a very useful tool in helping businesses, media creators and anyone who wants to better appreciate their relationships with individuals in their various communities. [...]

By: Media Driving with Jay Moonah » Post Topic » Connection Continuum Update

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:11:33 +0000

[...] Since I posted an early draft of the “connection continuum” produced initially by me and Jose Leal of wikiDOMO, we’ve had a TONNE of support, both here on the blog as well as through various backchannels. Here’s the latest version: [...]

By: njokub

njokub — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:52:41 +0000

About the “partner” issue, I think that’s it. One key is to try to get customers to become partners (as the ultimate relationship in the business world — as in social relationships that are really strong). Then if I understand you all correctly, these partners then can become links between you and other customers (who may be at any level of relationship development, but ideally attempting to make all of them partners, loyal customers).

It looks like this (diagrams) is describing the real world of business — dynamic but messy (no offense to your diagrams — it’s reality of the thought process and the business process. So, trying to figure all this out. . . hmmmmm. . . . It’s getting a little more challenging and difficult to represent as you said. I like the different colors. They help to represent different dimensions or levels of this one-to-one relationship. If this could be drawn in 3-D it would be wonderful! Maybe someone has a software program?

You think you could briefly explain your perception of what it all means — the latest draft (version 5). What are you interpreting this to mean? I’d love to hear your interpretation and any others.

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:12:43 +0000

I’ve made a few additional changes to the diagram, here’s the latest version:

I went backwards a bit on trying to use relative size to represent populations within the different circles, mainly because I couldn’t figure out how to get them to intersect correctly otherwise. Any feedback is welcome, check the Google Doc link above for the latest plus the previous versions.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:03:23 +0000

We actually DID end up taking a crack at using relative size with the latest version: Here's the link to the Google Doc: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df57trrb_40dvrdshg8 I totally agree that Competitors should also overlap with Friends though, there's tonnes of examples of that. BTW Donna (or anyone else!) if you want access to the Google Doc please drop me a line at jay {at} jaymoonah.com.

By: Donna Papacosta

Donna Papacosta — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:48:50 +0000

Wow, lots of food for thought. You’ve made a great start. I like the definitions, and agree it would be difficult to represent relative sizes. Not sure size matters. About competitors: sometimes they are friends, sometimes they fall into other categories. And they can be fluid, no?

Thanks for your work on this.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:44:39 +0000

I would ordinarily see business partners as being in the circle we’re currently calling Relationship, to me that’s actually a perfect example of what that circle is for. They could also fit inside of Customer and Friend. Does that make sense?

Note that this model is mainly useful for mapping a one-to-one relationship — in other words, the relationship of two parties to each other. If we want to get into viewing multiples like your relationship to a partner, and then THEIR relationship to an ultimate customer, I would think we’d need a different visual. I could actually see some use for that as an additional tool.

By: Kosten Metreweli

Kosten Metreweli — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:46:19 +0000

Where do (business) partners fit in this continuum? I think they are a pretty important part of the ecosystem, as they often sit alongside or between you and the customer – in other words they can be a key link between you and the customer (often the broker).

By: Media Driving with Jay Moonah » Post Topic » Episode #46 - Risky Behaviour and Media Literacy

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:41:18 +0000

[...] “The Connection Continuum — an invitation to collaborate on a community/relationship modelling tool” on Media Driving [...]

By: njokub

njokub — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:45:26 +0000

This is really great that you’re trying to sort all this out. About the definitions, I think one thing that might help (me at least) is to point out if not already that there are different degrees of friendship, customer, community, etc. That might help make it clearer. Actually the circle drawings and arrows may say that already — that as you move further away from where the circles intersect, this defines a looser form of customer, one who may have purchased on a one-time basis. The cross over or overlap is customers (or friends, etc.) who are in tighter relationships. The ideal goal perhaps being to have total overlap (but unrealistic). I may be confusing the issue but I am thinking of some literature that I’ve read recently that describes “The Evolution of Customer Relationships” — from strangers to acquaintances to friends to partners.

What you’re doing here that is blowing my mind is tying the social network scheme (which includes social as well as commercial friends) to the customer scheme. I think this is really COOL as I am unfamiliar with that literature (or social networking for that matter).