Birds and the Mules of the Web

Do you go to CNN to get your news, or do you have an RSS feed? Do you use email to forward your thoughts and interests to large groups or do you use Twitter? Although I hate to use absolutes or generalize, it is fair to say that the majority of the online audience can be grouped into two main categories:

Mules: Heavy in number and somewhat stubborn. They like to go the same places because they are reliable and easy. These are the folks who are now getting comfortable with YouTube and/or Wikipedia. They have found large and excellent resources for content and they know they can always go back to get it again.

Birds: Jump from place to place. The venues these people frequent aren’t as heavily trafficked and the mules of the internet either can’t, don’t want to, or don’t know how to reach the branches of the many web 2.0 properties. These entities offer what consumers seek, but with innovative packaging or specific attributes which exceed what the majority of the internet audience is used to seeing.

I’m not going to use this post to talk about what demographics comprise the Mules and Birds. Those are statistics that are ever changing around a space which is very blurred. The purpose of this post is to understand that there are two distinct groups that have two distinct types of behavior which need to be catered to in specific ways.

With the recent explosion in “social media” many sites which have largely catered to Mules have started implementing social functionality to mimic the abilities of other start-up like media providers. While there’s nothing wrong with such changes, those mule loving sites need to understand that they shouldn’t assume those functions will be a hit. The Birds will of course visit those sites and appreciate those functions, but the vast majority of visitors will be there because of the content and not because of the content + the added tools.

In my mind, the reason the stodgier older sites are expanding their social functionality is because they knows the Birds are the most vocal online. And they want those Birds to talk about how innovative the established online brands are with their design changes. But the key obstacle is that Birds are kind of like indie rock fans. Once the band gets played on MTV or the local top 40 station, it’s not cool anymore. It’s wonderful that you can now Digg stories on CNN money but bloggers aren’t going to talk about it. They have been exhibiting these kinds of behaviors for a long time (in the time frame of the internet) and that isn’t news to them.

On the flip side, when supplying content or tools for the Birds. Providers need to remember not to try and duplicate the quality and mass resources of the Mule feeders. A site like Blinkx, which leverages a great piece of video search technology isn’t going to take the place of a site like Youtube. DIGG isn’t going to the take the place of Google Search (yet) as a default resource even for the Birds. The key for online brands serving the Birds is to cherish each and every one of their users because they are fewer in number albeit more influential. These online brands need to constantly be changing and evolving while they are serving the Birds. Eventually, the branches of web 2.0 that stick around will become thick. The Birds will fly away to another tree, but hopefully (for the online brand) the mainstream audience (the Mules) will take their place.