About Us/Mission Statement and Target Audience/Demographic Clarity

[abnor]

Christy Leonardo:
-We need to figure out our org, and its market, in a single-braid statement of identity, which will clarify the voice of the publication and everything after it.
-The demographics participating in Gittip need to be formalized somehow (I want to do a broad survey of Gittip's growth and its demographics to begin addressing these issues).

[chadwhitacre]

cc: @hurlothrumbo

[chadwhitacre]

The closest thing we have to this right now is the Gittip Product Overview:

https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/wiki/Gittip-Product-Overview

[hurlothrumbo]

On it, in re: market study.

Asking:

1. What exactly is Gittip, in the contexts of: social media, crowdsourcing, giving/funding, micropayments, etc.
2. Who is receptive to that image? What people and organizations are positioned to articulate why the world is ready for Gittip?

I have many questions/requests to put to whit537 before we start bulking out that Overview, and defining some of the more ethereal aspects of the org.

For everyone else: what makes Gittip, as an organization, different?

[chadwhitacre]

What exactly is Gittip, in the contexts of: social media, crowdsourcing, giving/funding, micropayments, etc.

Gittip is always two things, because everyone is always both a) giver and b) receiver.

These two things, giving and receiving, exist across two modes.

In the base mode, Gittip is a means of a) assuaging guilt, and b) receiving what one is "due." In the (more complex, higher-order) altruistic mode, Gittip is a means to a) reciprocate for gifts-in-kind to society (music, code), and b) accept the approbation of society.

Who is receptive to that image? What people and organizations are positioned to articulate why the world is ready for Gittip?

Segments:

1. software
2. music
3. art
4. writing
5. comics

Gittip has both positive and negative poles, both push and pull. Only in (1) do we have corporate non-persons (wherein is located most of Earth's wealth) in the "push" position. There's a readiness in companies to give money for open source, in exchange for good software and good will in recruiting. Amongst the other four the pull is the more concentrated element. With software we're looking at a comparatively few companies giving large amounts to many individuals. With music, etc., we're looking at a few celebrities drawing large amounts from many individuals.

I think we need to approach our product development and marketing with the distinction between push-centric and pull-centric in view.

I am fairly confident that I can find companies to put money into open source projects via Gittip, once we've got funds (#449) and communities (#496).

For the pull-centric segment—I think that's where we need the stronger story-telling element (#133).

[chadwhitacre]

I actually don't want to say that one or the other is "centric" or "heavy." Because of course in both cases you have both giving and receiving, and both are equally important. It's more about the balance between the two. In the software case it's 1:N (one giver, many receivers) and in the arts case it's N:1 (many givers, one receiver).

[hurlothrumbo]

These are good answers, but they don't specifically address the questions asked.
To figure out who'd receptive to Gittip, and what orgs are close to Gittip, we'd have to survey its market. Not the purest approach, I know, but a good first step for growth.

The nets are out, in any case. Report forthcoming

[chadwhitacre]

Closing as we have a mission statement now.