I'm a 'Creator' - are you?

Forrester have produced a nice wee tool to accompany the book 'Groundswell' that shows the six different levels on what they call the 'Social Technographics Ladder'.

It seems to be an extension of Pareto's Rule (i.e. that for our purposes, 80% of the content on the InterWeb 2.0 is created by 20% of the users... or 90% created by 10% etc. etc.): but splits people further. Here's a slide from their ladder:

Now, by virtue of writing this, I'm clearly a 'Creator'. By virtue of you reading this, you're at the very least, a 'Spectator'.

So if you check the tool:


you can see how special you really are. Which we all need occasionally!

In my case, given my gender, age and country, I'm in the 13% of creators, compared to 62% who are just spectators.

But once more I draw the learned reader's attention to the bottom category, 'Inactives'. In my demographic, that's 26%.

26% of males in the UK between 35 and 44 do nothing with Web 2.0. They don't read blogs, they don't listen to podcasts, they don't rate things online... nada de nada. Zilch.

That figure goes up to 43% for the 45 to 54 age group. The decision makers in companies and other organisations, politicians, journalists, researchers, academics... and the figures are far higher for females in the same age groups.

So whilst those of us who 'create' are looking at all the wonderful possibilities of Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and Everything 2.0, we're never going to get the proverbial groundswell if we can't get that quarter (or more) who do nothing, to do something.

So, how to engage those who don't want to engage? There will always be people who don't 'engage'... in the same way some still don't carry a mobile phone, or have a TV, or use a microwave. But 26% is an awful lot.

Is it education? Is it simply that they don't know about the new possibilities? That they read a newspaper for opinion, but don't read blogs for opinion?

Do they think that it's all about egomaniacs telling the world what type of porridge they had for breakfast and the colour of socks they're wearing?

Are they concerned with privacy? Do they think that by reading a blog, they are somehow giving information to 'Big Brother' and they will then be bombarded with spam? Or that all blogs are synonyms for phishing?

I shall continue to play my part, running sessions wherever possible to educate... but if you can bring a horse to water, and it refuses to drink, can't you get a hose and just soak the stupid mare?

It's the same with voting (as I mentioned a few months ago here) - it's never going to completely work unless you get everyone doing it. So, when we make voting compulsory, perhaps we can somehow force people to engage online? Measure their Internet activity and if they're not at least spectating, then tax them. It would solve the government's finances and get true engagement at the same time! No down side!