Want vs. Need
What users want and what users need is usually different stuff, and sometimes you can't deliver them what they want and what they need because noth things aren't compatible.
There are two ways of looking to the issue: at the end giving them what they want and not what they need, or giving them what they need but not what they want. It's hard to see what is the best approach, but I'm quite an advocate on giving them what they need, because they usually don't want another thing just because they aren't informed as you are on the matter in debate.
I was liking to see the Web 2.0 workgroup people in their PostBubble effort, since I expected they would leave the hyped and bubbled vision you can see on some members web presence, like TechCrunch, but, unfortunately, it seems that they are more into what people want instead of what people need. And yes, I believe this is one of those cases where one thing excludes automaticly the other.
There are two ways of looking to the issue: at the end giving them what they want and not what they need, or giving them what they need but not what they want. It's hard to see what is the best approach, but I'm quite an advocate on giving them what they need, because they usually don't want another thing just because they aren't informed as you are on the matter in debate.
I was liking to see the Web 2.0 workgroup people in their PostBubble effort, since I expected they would leave the hyped and bubbled vision you can see on some members web presence, like TechCrunch, but, unfortunately, it seems that they are more into what people want instead of what people need. And yes, I believe this is one of those cases where one thing excludes automaticly the other.
Aneil,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I'm not quite sure if I understand what do you mean with "we're aiming to sing or float businesses": I thought that PostBubble was about "talking about businesses"?
You say that "if you are tricky about it you can deliver what people want and at the same time be giving them what they need", and most times that is true. But sometimes what they want and what they need are incompatible, and you can't fight against logic with briliant ideas.
Take the example you talk about on PostBubble, shwag, you have that exact problem: people want shwag, but they need not to be directed to (not-chosen) publicity.