What’s the difference between push media vs pull media?
Push media comes TO you, while pull media makes you go and get it. Pull media includes online message forums and blogs, which require people to remember to check them. This takes effort on the part of community members and thus causes problems with missed communication.
Members are the most important part of a community. No matter how many features an online platform has, it has little value on its own. The value is created by your members – the more members, the more value. When we compare push vs pull, pull technologies aren’t the best way to keep members.
It’s a challenge to reach a critical mass with an online community, even in a forum where people are consistently participating and questions are getting good answers in a reasonable time. When comparing push vs pull media, you need a push technology to get the maximum value from ALL of your members, not just the ones who remember to visit the online forum.
Pull Media
This first issue is…..your people have to remember to log in to your online forum or check your blog. On busy days, they may forget.
Another issue: no one knows when a question has been posted. So even if they are ready, willing, and able to answer, days or weeks may go by before they log in and see the question. The lack of answers and activity decreases desire. This leads to even longer intervals before people check in, which leads to your community losing members.
Push Media
If your members are on Facebook all day long, that could be considered a push technology. Twitter could also be considered a push technology if your community members check their feeds often enough. But, their feeds could be crowding out YOUR messages. This technology doesn’t exactly foster group conversation. (Read more about listservs vs Twitter.)
Honestly, good old-fashioned Email is still the best push technology.
Email in Push vs Pull Media
Email is old and unsexy, but everyone has it and everyone uses it constantly. It’s on desktops at work and home, tablets, and smartphones. People read and respond to their email all day long. Typically, the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. (And if you’re having trouble taming your Inbox, we have some suggestions.)
People look forward to emails from friends and family so email seems personal, like a letter. Email also feels private, and that’s an important factor in encouraging people to share their questions in public.
Almost everyone understands email, so training is rarely needed. Email is free, and everyone on the Internet has at least one email account.
Email is always handy on mobile devices, too. The increasing use of small screens on smartphones and tablets is another good reason to use email. For one thing, it’s easy to read plain text email on your phone. You just scroll down.
On the other hand, reading an online forum on a small screen can be a challenge. You have to pinch and zoom or scroll sideways. While there are some apps that can read online forums a bit better than a web browser, they cost money, they only work on some devices, and your members must install these apps. And again…..they have to remember to actually use them, which is what you want to avoid!
Statistically, one of the primary tasks people use their smartphones for is reading emails. According to the Always Connected study from IDC and Facebook, email usage is still the most common activity on smartphones for American adults. And, the 2015 Experian Marketing Services report shows that 57% of all emails were opened on a mobile device.
Don’t Discount Email
Don’t discount email in the fight between push vs pull media, whether it’s for following up with customers or even creating an online community. There are hundreds of thousands of active, successful email discussion groups. Many of these groups have been going continuously for years if not decades. They must be doing something right!
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