Life is a bit like an Internet Advertisement
I used to work at DoubleClick… now Google… as a Statistical Analyst. In my short career there I learned that internet ads are very rarely clicked on. In fact a rate of 1 in 1000 clicks/deliveries would be considered pretty decent.
Lately I’ve noticed that life seems to be a bit like an Internet Advertisement.
Google uses the context of the webpage surrounding the ad to help make assumptions about what kind of ad they should display in order for the web surfer to respond to it. It’s also possible to use the location of the user and the time of day as well to help make decisions about which ad to deliver in order to achieve a higher response rate.
Likewise we as people tend to associate with people of similar characteristics and goals in the community. First we establish a goal, and then find a context in the community to plug ourselves in.
But in other ways we simply play the odds of life. Like an ad that serves 10,000 times to get 1 response we similarly constantly make new contacts, help our neighbors, learn new things and participate in activities. The result of our network is that we gain more exposure and increase the odds of meeting our goals.
However there is one key difference. While most internet ads exist to pitch a product for the primary purpose of gaining financial value with a secondary goal of meeting the consumer/user’s needs, we as people tend to offer our services and our care as a primary goal with financial gain as a secondary goal. Those who network primarily to gain from others without giving back tend to be treated very negatively.
Abraham Maslow claimed that we do this because it is part of our human nature. Our primary motivators are aesthetic or moral fulfillment, not material gain. Aesthetic and moral fulfillment can be obtained, at least in part, via the age old Creed “Love thy neighbour, as thyself”.(see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
What if internet ads became a bit more human and offered you something instead of asking you to give their sponsors something? What could a company offer you that would make you trust and like them. Would whatever they gave you ever be enough to give that company something of value primarily because you want to return the favor and do business with them?
Google has been so successful because they have offered the user something of value. And most users of Google respond as friends do, by giving back.
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