but also curious about what services I and my "classmates" would be receiving, I virtually enrolled myself in the Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts. If I'm going to be bombarded with spam, I might as well be lumped in with people who can leap into musical production numbers about it. And somehow, the invasive shakedown is mitigated by the fact that, as far as this manufacturer is concerned, I'm one of the Fame kids.
Anytime a company puts strangers together, physically or virtually, those people will try to figure out how they're being sorted. They'll jockey for status. They'll play games. The trick is to know whether those games are pushing your product - or screwing your data. Does it help you when your customers connect in ways you can't control? Is peer pressure on your side? If so, it's your party. If not, on the other side of the two-way glass, it's ladies' night.
J.C. Herz is the founder of Joystick Nation, a consulting firm in New York.
