What Social Media Can Learn from Hordes of Bicyclists

The last Friday of every month, hundreds of cities around the globe experience Critical Mass. Bicyclists gather, and once a critical mass is reached, they take over the street. The Critical Mass rides through a city, often blocking traffic and yelling, “Happy Friday.”

What does this have to do with the Internet? Recently I had a chance to do some work on a New Media Life Cycle Analysis, and I realized that web services often live or die by the critical mass of their audience. It is important when developing or considering any new service to consider the critical mass.

For many developing services, their potential cannot be realized or even seen without such a critical mass. Think of it this way, if Craigslist did not have so many users, it would not be so useful to newcomers. The same is true of Facebook; if there weren’t so many people already on the service, there would be little draw to participate.

Here are three lessons that the bikers teach us:

1. Beware of overexposure

Don’t get too spread out. If the bike mass is spread too thin, then cars get in and disrupt the flow of the ride.

Overexposure early in the game may sound like a good thing for developing services, but all too often a sudden influx of users can destabilize the quality and purpose of the service. This puts too much stress on expansion and support, rather than refining the actual product.

2. Know the leaders, then follow them

On any given Critical Mass ride there is no set route, no designated leaders. The few riders at the front of the pack make spur-of-the-moment judgments for the entire crew. Early adopters online are these leaders; they will shape how the ride goes, or how the service develops.

Make sure you get the right users early on. Know what you want your audience to be, learn about them, and engage them.

3. Timing is everything

Facebook is an excellent example of critical mass in action. The service started small and limited; their original release was for college students only. Once they built up a strong, active user base, Facebook became a desirable location for those not included in the original release. Once it was stable and reached the critical mass, it was made available to all.

Takeaway

All new media follow a process and are influenced by the same forces. Consider whether the critical mass has been reached or not, or how it can be achieved before jumping onto a new medium.

You can’t control the road with five people, nor can you do it with 300 people stretched over a mile.