Reflecting on the last two days’ posts – one on the long, hard, stupid way and one on mobile gift giving, I’m left with the notion that if we’re going to bring on serious partners to solve serious problems, then we actually need some friction.
That is: Kony2012 is essentially frictionless. It spreads like wildfire. But the disconnect between the apparent ease of “doing something” about Kony (“buy your Kony action kit”) and what it will take to address all the complexities in Northern Uganda and beyond is….stark, to say the least.
It seems like we have three options:
- Confine high-velocity, frictionless stories to ideas that are pretty simple
- Use high-velocity, frictionless stories as the hook to get people’s attention, and then start a longer, more engaged dialogue
- Decide that real solutions will require embracing complexity from the get-go – so a big push to engage with an audience that craves simplicity is actually not time and money well spent.
Which do you choose?