The Waiting Game
The thin line between exclusivity and alienation.
There’s something very special about things you can’t have. By being just slightly outside of your reach, things become special–exclusive.
That’s how I felt when I found Medium.
I wanted to be invited the instant that I saw it. The clean design, the comment system, the notion of discovering fantastic content based on interest. It was perfect. And it was even more perfect because I couldn’t join. I applied after reading three posts and I sat in front of my email for more minutes than I care to admit hitting the refresh button.
But then I got frustrated
I put together a Wordpress blog and started writing there out of frustration. When I finally got my invitation to join Medium, I considered not taking part. It had been too long. I almost wanted to refuse as a point of pride.
But, clearly I didn’t
I felt a similar experience before I was accepted into Google’s #GlassExplorers program, and I felt the same way when I was applying to music schools. Things that are exclusive are magical, but frustration is delicate. You can drive someone away if you keep them waiting so long.
There really is a sweet-spot with exclusivity.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot in my professional work: how do you create allure among potential clients? How can you make people aspire to want what you are offering? How can you make someone wait long enough where it feels exclusive without alienating your audience?
I don’t have the answer to this question, but Medium clearly does. At the same time I applied to Medium, I also applied to Svbtle and several other startups that had beta products I wanted. And they all didn’t get back to me. They left me waiting too long, and their exclusivity alienated me instead of making me want them. I’ve moved on and will likely not look back.
And I’ll be too busy writing on Medium to care…
