Who Are “They”?

In business, and actually in all aspects of life, we often talk about there being a “them” — people who have some direct or indirect relationship with us.  Very often, who “they” are is implied by context.  The “they” might be your customers, the people in your local community, the citizens of your region or country.

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.

Personal Community – A group where you have one-on-one connections with the other individuals in the group.

Commercial Community – A group you are impacted economically by the other individuals the group.

Broader Community – A group where you have something in common with the other individuals in the group.

Acquaintances – Individuals you have a one-on-one relationship with. It would not be unexpected, under the right circumstances, for you to contact them directly.
Friends – In the traditional sense of the word, individuals you might share a causal meal with or invite to your house.

Customers – Synonymous with client or consumer. Individuals you provide a product or service to you in exchange for some consideration.
Disgruntled Customers – Customers who are in some way currently dissatisfied with you. They may or may not express their dissatisfaction publicly.
Competitors – Someone in the same business as you.
Vendors – Synonymous with service provider. Someone who would consider you a Customer.

Publics – Individuals who consume information about you or have an interest in you.
Detractors – Individuals who are critical of you and express it publicly.

One way I see the Continuum being used is to look at an individual or business use of a particular social network tool, and try to determine where your various connections fall within the relationship circles.

For example, as of this morning I have 1805 followers on Twitter.  I follow some but not all of them.  The ones who I don’t follow back as well as some that I do, I would consider “Publics” — they are my audience but I may not be theirs.  This can change of course, and if it does I might move them into the intersection of the circles “Publics” and “Acquaintances.”  For those on Twitter whom I have a closer relationship, they may fall in the intersection of three circles: “Publics,” “Acquaintances” and “Friends.”

Please note I am using these terms strictly as they have been defined for this tool, and I am certainly not passing any kind of judgment by creating these distinctions.

What’s the value in doing this?  It depends on your goals.  If you are using social tools as a way to build business, you might consider how you can move more people into your “Customer” circle.  If find you have many “Detractors” you may look for ways to move them out of that circle and into others — it might be a leap to turn them into “Friends” or “Customers” but you may be able to turn their negative options around and at having them simply as “Publics” or “Acquaintances,” at least to start.

Human relationships are multi-faceted and, well, messy.  This model certainly doesn’t capture the many many subtle feelings an individual might have about you or the different contexts in which you might interact with them.  But hopefully it can as a useful tool in helping to consider how you are connected to others, and as a starting point in considering what those different relationships mean.

Popularity: 6% [?]