Dissecting the Meme Meme and Echo Chambers: Purpose-Driven Life Fans Never Buy Michael Moore

99% of bloggers in USA wanted Kerry to win elections but in fact they failed badly and the bitter truth has been revealed: bloggers doesn't matter. Good old marketing is what matters most! That's why for a reason Nokia spends hundreds of millions of dollars yearly on marketing of Symbian phones and gets 90% global market share, while Microsoft spents just around 100 000 dolars yearly for their Windows MVPs (who usually are bloggers too) and Microsoft cellphones still struggle to get 5% market share (in USA Microsoft cellphones are number 3, after Symbian and after Palm Treo...)... - MSMobiles.com (via Scoble)

In a transparent appeal to get linked by bloggers by bashing bloggers (unfortunately it usually works), the author does ask a good question: Why weren't bloggers able to exert more influence? He's not the first to ask. (BTW, there are bigger business issues around why carriers aren't bending over backward to let the fox in the henhouse - Microsoft's difficulty isn't a marketing issue.)

Election 2004 really comes down to the fact that (depending on your politics -  fortunately or unfortunately) Karl Rove understands psychology better. And it also has to do with demographics...for starters.

Richard Dawkin's meme on meme theory is alive and well in the blogosphere and in marketing.  Memetics and meme-spreading concepts espoused in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point are the bibles of the blogosphere. Yesterday's talk with Gladwell as a presenter was the most packed Silicon Forum to date.

Regardless of the fact that memes are waning (and quickly) in my personal evolving view of marketing, one thing doesn't appear on any radar screen is that certain memes just don't cross psycho-demographic boundaries.

While The Purpose-Driven Life has been a mega-hit in a specific psychographic, you don't tend to see it side-by-side on the home bookshelf with any of Michael Moore's books. And you never will. (Correction: You never will unless you undergo some personal changes or receive a gift from your well-meaning family outcast.)

Speaking of which, I must admit there ARE some areas where I don't dare talk due to fear. Fear of getting inundated with protests by a small group of passionate people who'll stand up for their causes without listening to my side of the story.

This is similar to politics where radio talk shows rarely talk about, say, abortion, because no one listens to each other on that topic so no reason to discuss it in public. And, even when they do discuss it, no one really learns anything because the positions on both ends of the scale are so calcified. - Robert Scoble on technology industry's Us versus Them thinking

Robert later way down in the comment thread reiterates:

Um, I'm not talking about people subtly (or even not so subtly) point out that I'm wrong...I'm talking about people who just totally shut down all discussion of a topic.

When we're talking ideological warfare - then memes don't cross over but remain contained. Within their group, the memes amplify and self-reinforce  inside this container but cross-over doesn't happen. And memes that don't fit the ideological worldview are unconsciously and even purposefully and consciously ignored:

At memecentral.com, run by Richard Brodie, the author of ''Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme,'' visitors learn how to recognize and resist mind viruses -- not to be confused with Internet viruses. - NY Times, Oct 26, 2004, "Buzzing the Web on a Meme Machine"

I've stumbled onto some research that explains why certain types of products and services and more importantly, ideas and viewpoints, achieve cult-like status and fanatic worship (or perhaps bilious hate). The dark side as I alluded in the previous post is that often deep polarization and division ensue, as we witnessed in this country's elections. While what I've found is not original, but I think the synthesis will be.

I've decided that this is an important enough topic that I will not attempt to whip out the blog paper by tomorrow. All the data I have is about polarization (and the whys) and I've not seen much on bridge-building. I'd like to spend more time reflecting and contemplating the latter in order to present this responsibly. Like most things this information can cut both ways: and I'd like to give a chance to have it be used for unification. (I can still use a bit of help reviewing, email crossroadsdispatches {at} gmail [dot] com)

In the meantime, if you're marketing or blogging, perhaps spend a bit less energy spreading your meme and a bit more listening.

Business is about relationships and relationships start by talking to each other and figuring out where you can find some common ground. - Robert Scoble

I ran across this quote which is often used in volunteer and charity situations, and I think it's apropos:

If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together. - Lill Watson, aboriginal activist

I pretty much feel the same way about:

If you have reached out to me to change my mind, you are wasting your time. But if you have reached out because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.