- Leandro Herrero - https://leandroherrero.com -

A 10 line Street Social Dictionary to navigate your social business and avoid fooling yourself with mistaken expectations.

  1. Customer: buys your product, once, or twice, pays, that’s it. Thanks
  2. User: buys your product, once, or twice, pays, uses, you know about it, you learn, you have a conversation.
  3. Audience: You push a message, they listen, they like it, or not, go, maybe you get a review.
  4. Community: An audience in which people pull each other. They listen, they like it, or not, go, stay, maybe you get a review as well, but eventually it creates a sense of belonging, an identity. It grows. It creates something in common (as in common-unity) with you.
  5. Advocates: endorse you, say you are good. Thanks.
  6. Ambassadors: endorse you, say you are good, thanks, willing to represent you, take care of your things, big or small. On behalf of you. Your Personal Diplomatic Service.
  7. Activists: endorse you, your advocates, and your ambassadors, represent you, do something, again and again, engage with others in a community; above all, they act ( as in act-ivism).
  8. Fans: they think you are cool. They don’t have to do anything else other than thinking you are cool. The coolest of them also tell you that you are cool. It’s so cool!
  9. Clicktivists: they click ‘I like’ (you, your page)
  10. Facebook friends: names in Facebook.

To clarify once more: activists act, advocates talk, ambassadors represent, fans like you, audiences listen, communities manage a ‘commons’, costumers buy, users know you and you know them, clicktivists like you, and Facebook friends also like you but tell you which cereals they have eaten this morning.

The Fundamental Social Attribution Errors (TM pending) are of the type:

You expect advocates to actually do something for you
You expect clicktivists who like you to put money down
You expect fans to come to your rescue
You expect customers to spontaneously create a community of love
You expect audiences to represent you the day after.

Etc.

Of course, of course, of course, how could I forget? There are combinations!

But if you start in the hope of combinations, you may be ready for a shock.

Liking you is not buying you, or giving you money or represent you. Get your social taxonomy right.

If you are in the jungle and you can’t distinguish a lion from a bush, you won’t get your money back from that bad Botanic course.