Everyone knows the story of\u00a0Pavlov\u2019s dog.\u00a0 A summary for those who slept through 7th grade science class:<\/p>\n
The original and most famous example of classical conditioning involved the salivary conditioning of Pavlov\u2019s dogs. During his research on the physiology of digestion in dogs, Pavlov noticed that, rather than simply salivating in the presence of meat powder (an innate response to food that he called the\u00a0unconditioned response<\/strong>), the dogs began to salivate in the presence of the lab technician who normally fed them. From this observation he predicted that, if a particular stimulus in the dog\u2019s surroundings were present when the dog was presented with meat powder, then this stimulus would become\u00a0associated<\/em>\u00a0with food and cause salivation on its own. In his initial experiment, Pavlov used a metronome to call the dogs to their food and, after a few repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to the metronome. Thus, a neutral stimulus (metronome) became a\u00a0conditioned stimulus<\/strong>\u00a0(CS) as a result of consistent pairing with the\u00a0unconditioned stimulus<\/strong>\u00a0(US \u2013 meat powder in this example). Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a conditional reflex (now called\u00a0Conditioned Response<\/strong>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Paralleling this to web publishing \u2013 if you become known for a high degree of signal for a long enough period of time, the mere act of publishing content will be enough for people to automatically share it.\u00a0 Now, your readers are hardly dogs \u2013 but Pavlovian reactions, or conditioned responses are a powerful force that we humans are just as susceptible to as dogs.\u00a0 It\u2019s why popular things get more popular, people can\u2019t help but share them.<\/p>\n
The unconditioned response of subscribers is when you publish, they\u2019ll read your content.\u00a0 In other words, it\u2019s natural after people subscribe to a site that they read content in RSS or click through to read it on the page \u2013 that\u2019s why they subscribed.\u00a0 But, merely reading is not enough if you want to grow.\u00a0 You need to develop a conditioned response in users to share what you\u2019re doing with their personal networks.<\/p>\n
This is becoming even more important for growth in seemingly saturated markets.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you a quick example why \u2013 Matt at Snarkmarket\u00a0has reached the point\u00a0many other RSS users have reached (hat tip to\u00a0Noah\u00a0for pointing this out):<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve reached the terrible moment. Google Reader has long since stopped telling me how many unread items I have, opting instead for the euphemistic\u00a0\u201c1000+\u201d. I\u2019ve dumped all the folders I\u2019m willing to dump. I am unwilling to\u00a0declare bankruptcy, but I don\u2019t know how long I can stave off my attention creditors.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve come to realize about myself: I fully accept that there\u2019s not a particular link in that ridiculous heap that will change my life. It\u2019s been a while since I worried about missing a single killer post or app or XKCD or whatever; if it\u2019s valuable enough, it\u2019ll find me, I got it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Matt should read my post on the fact that\u00a0there\u2019s no reason to feel overwhelmed.\u00a0 But he has a point, and it\u2019s this:\u00a0 there is a bloat of content among us and the truth is many users, instead of cleaning out their feeds, will entrust the discovery of what they consume to the wisdom of their peers and\/or the crowds.\u00a0 And, as more people do this, the value in having an audience motivated to share, link and bookmark your stuff goes up beyond merely having piles of passive RSS readers.<\/p>\n
Back to the example of Pavlov, your goal should be to condition subscribers to share your content as a natural response to your publishing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a simple formula getting there:\u00a0\u00a0only publish that which your core readers are interested in sharing.<\/strong>\u00a0Do this long enough and people will become conditioned to share what you post as an automatic reaction.<\/p>\n
Sites I observe that people are conditioned to share first, consume second:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\nXKCD\u00a0(Webcomic)<\/p>\n
Seth Godin\u00a0(Marketing blogger)<\/p>\n
Yahtzee at Escapist Magazine\u00a0(Video blogger)<\/p>\n
Smashing Magazine\u00a0(Design blog)<\/p>\n
Their content is all strong, but what\u2019s even more interesting with these examples in particular is the fact that people race to share the material before they\u2019ve even finished reading\/viewing it (it is a normal occurrence to see Tweets that say \u201creading Seth Godin\u2019s new post, check it out here\u201d or witness the weekly race to submit Yahtzee\/XKCD to Digg merely because it\u2019s new).\u00a0 In these cases (and others) audiences share their content automatically, thus helping build new audiences and cutting through the noise of 1,000+ items in an RSS reader.<\/p>\n
All of these sites update regularly, (XKCD every Monday, Wednesday and Friday; Yahtzee on Wednesday; Seth Godin daily; Smashing Magazine nearly every day) but perhaps even more important than publishing on a timed schedule, is the\u00a0signal to noise ratio\u00a0on their sites.\u00a0 For their core fans\/subscribers \u2013 the ones who actively share the material \u2013 everything they publish is signal.\u00a0 People share their stuff because they know that what the quality of the content will be even before clicking it.\u00a0 They also deliver what they know their fans want, meeting that expectation again and again.<\/p>\n
The web has fostered and encouraged a culture of sharing, and by consistently creating material that taps into the\u00a0reasons why we share content, your readers will become conditioned to share what you create.\u00a0 There are so many social bookmarking services and even more users actively looking for steady streams of good content they can share to grow their own strength on those sites.\u00a0\u00a0You already have the right readers to tap into this today<\/strong>, it\u2019s a safe bet those\u00a011% of users who are fluent in RSS\u00a0are the same people who make up the top 10% of the\u00a0participation inequality pyramid.<\/p>\n
This is not a manipulative strategy either, it is simply the natural result of consistently\u00a0delivering on a successful formula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Everyone knows the story of\u00a0Pavlov\u2019s dog.\u00a0 A summary for those who slept through 7th grade science class: The original and … <\/p>\n