Why Social Media is a Lot Like Survivor

Image credit: Monty Brinton

I admit it. I watch Survivor, the television show. I’ve been a fan since season 2. Last week, as I was watching Coach get the boot, it occured to me that social networking communities are a lot like Survivor. And some of the lessons from the show are applicable to participating in a community.

You’ve Gotta Pull Your Weight

Inevitably, the lazy people get booted off in Survivor. People who lay around while others are working, who procrastinate until someone else does the job, who fail to do their fare share usually get voted off. They might last for a while, but people notice who is and isn’t contributing. The hard workers are appreciated. The ones that work hard and are successful–at hunting, building fire, building shelter–they’re especially appreciated.

Contributing to the tribe regularly might not keep you in the game. But failing to do so is almost always a ticket out, sooner or later. Likewise, failing to contribute to your online community is likely to lose you followers or fans. After all, relationships require give and take. If you’re always taking, pretty soon people get tired of having you around.

It Pays to Be Smart

Stupid people generally don’t last as long in Survivor either. That’s not to say that stupid people haven’t made it to the end. Occasionally they have. More often, they get duped or blind-sided, and voted out. Or people vote them out because their very stupidity is annoying.

Smart people, on the other hand, tend to last longer. Sometimes it’s because they are good at strategizing. Sometimes it’s because their intelligence is helping to win challenges. They’re good at puzzles or memory games, so the team keeps them as an asset. There are less tangible reasons, as well. Smart people may not appreciate dumb people (to be blunt). But we usually appreciate and admire people who are smarter than us.

Likewise, we tend to be interested in what intelligent, insightful people have to say in communities. People who are regularly and consistently thought provoking, introducing new ideas, and providing good analysis–or just a clever quip–are more fun to engage with. They attract and retain larger followings.

Being Nice May Help–Being Mean May Hurt

Mean people have won Survivor. Shoot, a mean guy won the very first season! Nice guys have lost. But, the mean people who win are usually the sneaky mean ones. The grumpy kind of mean gets voted out early.

When you’re stuck in a community and one guy is snide, insulting, or complaining constantly, it gets hard to stomach. Pretty soon, it doesn’t matter how good he is at puzzles or athletic challenges, because every minute of the day he’s grating on your nerves.

Similarly, in communities, we usually won’t stick long with people who are downers. People who are rude or insulting, or just depressing, get unfollowed or unfriended.

The shrewd or subtle kind of mean also eventually shows up. These evil people may last, but if they are pitted against a nice guy at the end, they are more likely to lose. Nice is the tie-breaker. A nice but dumb guy may lose, in the final vote, to a mean but smart guy. A nice guy who is lazy may lose to mean guy who worked hard and contributed a lot. But when you’ve got two people who contributed equally and are both smart, most people prefer the nice guy to the mean one.

That kind of conflict doesn’t happen often in social communities. Sometimes, though, you see online disputes. When and if you find yourself in an public argument, readers are  unlikely to side with you if you don’t have a positive history of contributing to the community. They aren’t likely to side with you if you can’t defend your position through intelligent debate. What happens, though, when you and the person you’re disagreeing with are both contributors and both articulate in your defense? I’ve found that it’s a lot like Survivor. The person who handles a bad situation with consideration, diplomacy, and grace is like the nice guy–and far more likely to get the community’s support.

What about you? Do you see other ways social media is like survivor? What do you think community participation can be compared to?

Neicole Crepeau is a tech industry veteran of 27 years, and has worked in marketing, design, and technical writing. She tweets and blogs about social media, web technology, and user experience under @neicolec and Coherent Social Media.  She does social media consulting and user experience design at Coherent Interactive.