Authenticity

We've always thought that authenticity was a key attribute of a successful web service. We define authenticity as that intangible feeling you get when you come across a service that does exactly what it is supposed to do, is novel, true to itself, etc. Digg, Delicious, Flickr, and Craigslist are all authentic services and have remained so.

Last night I wondered whether you can fake authenticity. I think not, but certainly many have tried. What do you think?

Comments

[howard lindzon]

Are you saying iloveyouman.com would not work?

[Lloyd Fassett]

I think it's a great question. A regular "'curioser and curioser', said Alice."

There is less ability to scale if your not authentic today than before the internet. If you're not authentic, you're a quick thief, like some commentors point out above. The purpose isn't to build, but to steal and get away.

YouTube is authentic, but LonelyGirl15 kind of wasn't. She crossed people's expectations, but she was good entertainment. YouTube is authentic in that it's from the people, but when it's for entertainment it's held to a different believability level. However, the Yao Ming rejection was great to see and you'd think that was true.

I think pushing out effecient frontiers is what the new authenticity is about. Used to be that if you could engineer a great solution (like cheap massed produced cigarettes or cars) you could build an industrial company, which is still true. But, what is a new though is that if you build a service people believe in, like your examples, it creates a new effecient frontier to get something done like sell an item. Authenticity enables a believability that people will act on. Authententicity may be a crucial lynch pin to creating web services that facilitate many to many relatinoships. That's scalable.

Interesting question. It's fun to keep asking myself.

[JayR]

As to Brian's earlier post, ESPN is the textbook example of co-opted and corrupted authenticity. Remember when it was the channel for sports purists? Now look at what we get - ridiculous self-congratulatory promotion, cross-marketing up the wazoo with ABC's entertainment unit, the ESPN Zone, the ESPY awards and, perhaps what is most telling, their candid admission that their Monday Night Coverage is geared towards the "casual fan". It's no longer about the sports, it's about the brand.

Sorry for injecting ESPN into this high-falutin' philosophical discussion, but it's such a perfect example of what I was thinking about in my original comment.

[Curtis Hougland]

Simply stated, authenticity is the single most important attribute in communications (in all its various forms) today, becuase it allows you to speak "with" instead of "to" your audiences in a meaningful way.

As media becomes more niche, and social networking fosters more one-on-one communication, authenticity is even more important because each person's filter becomes more attuned to their specific affinity interest.

However, the Internet, apologies to the 2.0 crowd, is not for users, but it is dependent on consumers. There is so much inauthenticity, spam in the personality engine so to speak, that it becomes confusing about what's actually what and who is really who.

Communities are better policed today, and authenticity still rings true, but inauthenticity is so pervasive that it all can't be weeded out.

[Olee]

I agree that authenticity is very important in communications as well as a brand. If you are able to keep the lifecycle of a consumer within your brand for an extended period of time the original exspense of gaining that consumer lowers dramatically. Sites like www.itunes.com, www.9thx.com, www.youtube.com are examples of brnds that have their models set up to maximize the lifecycle of a consumer simply based onthe product offerings.

[Don Burnett]

I think when you are talking identity you also have to think about how the consumer perceives your product. The VCR ceased being the "Betamax".

Acceptance of authenticity really leads to consumer acceptance and brand identification. We have brands in this country that are nearly 100 years old that have withered many storms of acceptance. I could mention organizations and brands like Disney, and the New York Times.

The lessons from this are many and creation of a brand that gives the consumer what they want with longevity and authenticity are things people understand and know.. The same goes double for those with the entrepaneural spirit. You know its there immediately.

Of course everytime an organization so known and accepted for something does something new, they are really opening up new territory and authenticity comes into play when the consumer "embraces and extends" with acceptance. That's why I believe risk and authenticity have a powerful relationship so I find this very interesting discussion.

[Bobo]

In response to Olee: Even though YouTube’s original business was to share original content provider’s videos, it has morphed into a copyrighter’s hell and the authenticity of the videos is in question. According to Webster, “authentic” is defined as “not false or imitation”. Where we can all agree that the videos themselves are real, the person delivering the content is not authentic. At least companies like 9thXchange and iTunes are doing something about the latter.

[Drew B]

Authenticity can be a fleeting thing on the worldwide web. It is a new sites authenticity which makes it attractive to early adaptors and fuels the madness of core internet groupies which will propel it to the stratosphere of on-line popularity. So goes the story of Google, youtube and others.

Likewise it is that popularity fueled by the essences of its authenticity which attracts the big money. The big money almost inevitably strips away at that essential authenticity.

This reality is a by product of site born of a revolutionary, counterculture authenticity which is what YouTube, MySpace and Napster before them had. They tend to be based on business models which are not self-sustaining. These website are likened to a stupid teenager, finding themselves home alone for the weekend and what do they do? They throw the proverbial wild party where anyone and everyone shows up. But it the dumb teen has hell to pay.

A new breed of authenticity is on the horizon. Sites like 9thX.com, BitTorrent and The Hype Machine are coming on-line with sustainable business models, while still holding true to the consumer empowering, revolutionary spirit of authenticity which was the essential spirit of its multibillion dollar predecessors. When they attract the interest of the deep pocket investors and acquirers, their essential authenticity won't have to be striped away. They new partners can just enable them to enhance that which they already do. These new breeds are revolutionary authentic without being counter-culture.

[Andy]

I find all your comments interesting. I just finished a lengthy study of Authenticity. While I have not focused on the internet side, I think the relationship of retailer to consumer is still based on Authenticity. Are businesses keeping the promises they have been making? Are the promises being made realistic? If a company is consistantly living out it's promises, then it is authentic. Yet not all companies that live out thier promises are successful, which comes down to relevance.

To be authentic you have to be original and transparent on a consistent basis, which means being true to yourself, and open and revealing with your consumer.

If you are interested, the culmination of the research resulted in a book. I'd invite you to check it out at www.realitysells.com. Again it is not about web service, but it does explore the concept of Authenticity.