That Neighborhood Feel

March 15, 2009 · Comments

East Boston, MA

A Recent History of Communication

Several hundred years ago, newspapers were born from broadsides and pamphlets, where information was aggregated and distributed, most specifically to a regional area. Stories were often personal, where many people knew the protagonists and antagonists of every piece. The learned people of a region stayed informed by paying attention to the distribution of various printed materials (as well as through private letters delivered through the postal system).

A hundred or so years ago, the telephone came into play. People used them to communicate. They were expensive at first, but then people figured out ways to cut costs, including the initiation of the party line (where people would all use the same service, but would use different ring types to indicate which house was receiving a call). Phones were very social.

Radio came, and it had a more broad reach. We learned about areas beyond us. Newspapers grew up. Television came. Nationalized content came. Syndication. International.

There’s obviously some good that comes from learning more about the world. I wouldn’t want to go back for anything. Having friends all over the world is really the best thing that ever happened to me. And yet, something happened with business communications.

Missing That Neighborhood Feel

With the ability to reach the masses came the disconnect between businesses needing to reach potential customers and any chance of personalization and localization. It’s hard to do both: reach millions of people and yet seem personal. Is that necessary?

We all want to feel important and unique. We want people to address us personally, to remember us. At least sometimes. I understand that we don’t need a relationship with our gas station (especially since they rarely have mechanics on staff any longer). I realize that we really don’t care to know our telephone company (until we have a problem).

Or do we? Do we like being treated personally? Is it too much to ask? Do we want these kinds of interactions? Which products or services do we want to be personal versus not?

Do we want that neighborhood feel back?

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  • Chris,

    I definitely agree with the sentiment and feel that on some level we do love that personal touch. It makes us feel that the person, business or company cares. You are more then just a customer or number etc. Gary Vee often talks about this and he is probably one of the folks that really practices what he preach.

    Nice post!
    Schalk
  • It's interesting that right now I am reading a book that makes this same point. "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman
  • What I find interesting is that with the recent and continuing economic hard times/carnage, that 'neighborhood' feel is coming back in places you least expect it.
  • I think neighborhoods suffer from the same malaise as the rest of society. We are all "cut-off" to some extent, and only passing each other on the street elicits a wave or a "good morning". At least social media gives us a chance of connecting in cyberspace in order to plan some real get-togethers. It's a shame we have devolved to that level, but at least we may be trying more now than 10 years ago.
  • @Chris -

    Interesting topic. I think that it is important every so often to shut down - go off the grid - forget what is happening globally and focus on what is happening in your own backyard. This includes family, friends, the people in your community, your street, etc.

    Thanks for the reminder.

    @djwaldow
  • Sincerity.

    It's hard to say how scalable intimacy - which is what the neighborhood engenders - can ever be. But just because intimacy may not scale well, it doesn't mean that large enterprises can't be sincere in their efforts.

    Is sincerity scalable? I think it can be - at least more so than intimacy. This may be counter-intuitive, but since the essence of sincerity is truth (and truth is scalable), those organizations which are committed to sincerity, but challenged by the scalability of intimacy, may be in a better position to engender a more neighborly feel.

    As long as I feel that an enterprise is sincere in its commitment to its community, then it has a chance for me to feel appreciated in my hour of need. In my interaction with businesses, that's neighborly enough for me.
  • partywedo
    Cool, California (95614) - In 1963 the population was in the hundreds. You knew everyone at the general store. Great memories of a country community.
    Today there are thousands in the area; great people, but you don't know their names. Still a community; but sometimes you wish for the good old days.
  • Yes, we do want that neighborhood feeling back, but we also want our Wal-Mart prices, McDonalds speedy drive-through and CNN Headline News. Ultimately, we pay with our wallets and our wallets scream that we would much rather pay for things that are cheap, fast and shallow. Follow the money, Chris; it always tells the real story.
  • Yes, Chris, we do want that neighborhood feeling. It's one reason I moved to a sleepy village, in a quiet valley on a Spanish island nobody has ever heard of. Alfredo pumps my fuel and will fix anything that's broken, Henri sells the hardware, Manolo the food. These guys know what I want and need before I do, they have the most sophisticated client databases known to man - in their brains! They share their lives with me every day, and I share mine with them. Sometimes I pay a premium (but not always), but I wouldn't ever buy from anyone else.
  • @Mike do you need a dog on your payroll? I'll work for food :-)
  • That 'neighborhood' feeling comes from within. If you get to know people, interact, reach out, most of the time they'll reach back. I live in a smallish town (40,000) and have lived in smaller (3,000). Just because everyone knows everyone doesn't make them friendly. Relationships give you that neighborhood feeling because that's what that feeling is all about - relationship. I can go out here and see someone every day that I know...because I know a lot of people and work at interacting with them. I do it online too. "Neighborhood" is easy. Just be a neighbor.
  • I don't think it's simple geography, rather, it's about interacting with someone we can identify with in some way. For this reason, I think people love all things local. There is a tremendous amount of research suggesting that we are strongly influenced by people who are "like us". This is where the power of word-of-mouth marketing comes from.

    To me this means we want this 'local' feeling when interacting with people or companies. Through good CRM principals companies must seek ways of achieving this 1-to-1 relationship if they hope to do well.
  • That's a great photo Chris!
  • As good-hearted people connect for pervasive impact throughout a city, won't it all come back to you in your neighborhood and me in mine? Social media will help undo what interstate highways have done to our sense of community.
  • I just did a blog post on this topic at my blog jeffkorhan.com. My view is local media was once "our world." That has changed in today's society. We all now have this larger reach that is nothing more than a merging of the local with the global. That's the reality of the global community we live in.

    The point is we care most about our local community, but can't ignore the fact that all communities eventually bump into each other.
  • Chris, Yes we do want the neighborhood feel. How personal do we want our company interactions to be? I would say as personal as the the representative involved can be. Take @comcastcares, I believe Frank Eliason really does care. Before my interaction with him I don't think I would have expected it. I would go as far as saying I loathed Comcast's customer care via phone. Now though I do. If I don't get it then I move on to the next company. Companies like that are setting the new standard. I think it is great!
    @johnflurry
  • Yes and No i think. There are still folks who would rather be left alone and not have any interaction with an organization (be it small or large). The larger trend though I believe is to go back to the era of more personalization. It is a very basic human need to be recognized, to be made to feel special. Take the example of rentvillas.com (Josh Bernoff's post a couple months ago). I think by and large most customers do appreciate a personal/ human contact with an organization. Although like someone already stated above scalability of this approach is yet to be proven.
  • @Becky - That sums it all up right there. BE A NEIGHBOR. excellent!
  • Douglas Tindal
    This is a fascinating topic and raises questions, among other things, about the degree to which communications technologies shape us and the degree to which we shape our technologies. Part of what we're seeing is the dead-end of globalization, which breaks relationship, yes, but also requires that we treat most of the planet as if it were somehow external. We don't need to worry about what goes on "over there." Is that the result of mass communication technologies? Or is it more the final playing out of centuries of expansion into new "frontiers," to the extent that we now need, by most estimates, another five planets to support all the human on Earth in a North American lifestyle. When we come to understand that all of us now inhabit a single neighborhood, we can perhaps begin to restore the communications of relationship -- using all the technologies available.
  • Great topic. People are definitely seeking the neighborhood feeling again, that is why there has been suburban flight and people are coming back to the city. The neighborhood and the street is what gives people a feeling of being home. People want to know their coffee shop, their doctor, their Ethiopian restaurant, pharmacist, and their fruit seller. But you raise a good question about are there some services that we don't want it to be that way? My cell phone? Maybe, but I think I want to feel comfortable with most and be able to have a relationship, get advice, and joke around.
  • Renee
    Community is what most people desire. That sense of belonging. The "Cheers" theme song summed it up - We want to go where everybody knows your name!
    My hubby and I go to the same restaurant for our date night. Our waiter, one of several there, is our waiter. We only sit in his section. We wait for his section. Why? He knows our name, I think. He knows our order, though. He knows how we like our food. He knows our timing. He knows us! We feel special in a sea of customers. He makes us feel that way. We tip him big! (Maybe that's why he likes us. LOL) Anyway, its the sense of everybody knowing us there. The cashier, the manager, our waiter.
    I try to pass that feeling unto our visitors at church. I try to remember their names and call them by them when they return. It makes a difference. People want to belong somewhere. We want to go where everybody knows our name!
  • Irene Williams
    I think we do want the neighborhood feel in our lives, to feel known and valued. The reality is that "feel" and how it is achieved innately evolves with our technological/systematic capabilities. We eventually figured out how the phone, fax and voicemail could help us connect; now the tools have evolved, but so have we. And while I'm guessing I won't find the owner of my neighborhood service station (yes---I have a great one .25 mile from my house!) on Facebook, I'd be quite certain his grandson's already there. Hmm, maybe I'll start a fan page for Polly's Amoco!
  • " What I find interesting is that with the recent and continuing economic hard times/carnage, that ‘neighborhood’ feel is coming back in places you least expect it." 3 Susie Blackmon >> got some examples for us?

    I guess the neighborhood sphere is coming back at us with a social feed that needs to be localized. We'll be seeing more meetUps, carpooling and web CO-Ops join hands to reduce the cash feed and gain old school physical encounters.
  • Great article Chris!
    I work for a company called People Bridge in Hawaii and our main business is a social network called OurTown808 (http://www.ourtown808.com), which is still in beta, but it's a neighborhood social network for all the areas in Hawaii. We connect people to other people in the neighborhood and the responses that we have gotten so far have been great! People want that neighborhood feeling.
  • I think it's time for a paradigm shift in the definition of the word neighborhood. Where in the past it's been a situation of physical proximity today those communities are virtually proximal. We find communities of people online and connect based on similar interests and/or experiences.

    Businesses can thrive in the digital age by either creating places of community within which people can gather, communicate and consume their product or service. They can also thrive by entering in to existing online communities and becoming an engaging part of the community building a trustworthy brand reputation causing people to desire to do business with them.

    That means that even WalMart, McDonalds and CNN can create the perception of being part of a community even though the operate and exist on a global scale.
  • Sure, I think we would love to have that personalized feeling with every interaction we undertake. However I think that peoples' expectations have grown along with the reach. They expect to be treated like individuals and have that warm and fuzzy "neighbourhood" feel with every interaction they have, and companies are being forced to try and find ways to make this happen. Unfortunately, many companies go about it entirely wrong. Simply putting my name in the greeting line of a letter or email isn't going to do it. But I see this all too often as companies try to "personalize" communications.

    What it comes down to is people. Human interaction. Want me to feel warm and fuzzy? Then make sure I'm not on permahold for 45 minutes before I get to your customer service trainee who is having a bad day and doesn't understand my question. Make sure the person behind the cash is connecting with every customer - looking them in the eye, smiling, being helpful. Like Becky said above, neighbourhoods are intensely personal. And intensely human.
  • I think people definitely want that 'neighborhood' feel back, it all goes back to the human basic need that everyone wants to feel validated. They at least want to feel like they have made their point and people acknowledge it, because of mass communication peole have often created 'neighborhoods' but through blogging and social networking. I think that's great but through the midst of it all people often forget about their neighbors and social issues going on in right in their communities and own backyards.

    Its like the old days when you knew everyone on your street and they knew you and your family, and when people bought a house they actually lived there for more than 3 years. Now with people movin' and shakin' its so hard to keep in touch with people and actually take time to build lasting relationships.
  • Hey Chris,

    Ever since giving up my car to live a more urban and green lifestyle (and less expensive) I have noticed that I have gained a neighbourhood feel in our countries largest city core. I don't travel out to the box stores to shop, I shop locally and thus people start to recognize me and greet me personally. I ride my bike through the streets of my local neighbourhood and notice those little shops that would have been a blur if driving by. When I stop in I feel like I am connected and wanted in my community and I love it and so do the shops that I am now supporting.

    Thanks for the post.
  • Chris,

    I think being treated personally is important to almost everyone. With the way social media is growing, there seems to be the thought that this is getting away from the personal connection.

    The goal at http://www.under30ceo.com/ is to connect entrepreneurs with each other and encourage personal connections. I believe that the ultimate goal of social media is to develop these personal connections. Add value and gain value with people to develop a reliable relationship both on a business level and a personal level. Opening up and getting to know people on a personal level makes the connection more real and true.
  • Hi Chris,
    I can't tell you how many big blogs I read that really never say much that is very important. I won't get into the comments that praise the nothingness. You could be a book on being star struck and loosing your common sense.

    Anyway I love reading you, I always seem to be stimulated with a question or two after I do though. Not that you owe me anything because you don't I am the one indebted to you for stimulating my brain. But I am going to ask you a question and for a few moments of your time if you could to rip me apart.

    Sheryl and I have been working on a project for about a year now, we are on our last phase of beta testing our system. Just a little history, I have a question about "Neighborhood" Do you have any suggestions to make our little community more Neighborly? Friendly? We have done our best to this point but have never had any outside input. The only thing I can offer you at this point for your time is a membership. I'm pretty sure you don't need the links though.

    Would be forever indebted to you.
    Thanks
    Brad West ~ onopmoney
  • Neighborhood is about feeling important, in the sense of being valued--recognizing you've made choice to shop there, you know the owner, and they're shop. In real life that can happen starting with the culture of the company. Ask where something is at Trader Joe's, and they will stop what they are doing to walk you to the item. As direction at Sears, and you might get a vague wave to "over there." I found that happened to me for the firs time on-line today, when opening an account with Scottrade. A box opened up for live chat. "I see you are opening an account, do you have any questions, my name is George." Companies that still give you access to real people, and can follow your order (uprinting.com is another good one for this) is nice. It makes you feel connected even when you have used the product enough to not need the extra support.

    It's like the guys at Cheers--it's still nice to shop someplace where 'everybody knows your name." That's what you get in neighborhoods.
  • This is why social media, web 2.0 and e2.0 are changing/challenging the communication paradigms. Neighborhoods are virtual and finally, technology is enabling the kinds of conversations (and therefore truth, sincerity and intimacy) that were once restricted to geographies.
  • @billycripe Actually, neighborhoods are not virtual. What "virtual neighborhoods" do is create value for human touch and IRL conversation because it is becoming more rare. I crave a a reality experience and a couple hours of kcik back time with my fellow dogs over a beer is far more satisfying than any Twitter conversation could ever be.

    Technology changes, people do not. Just because technology enables me to reach out, doesn't mean the guy I'm reaching to will let me touch him. More often than not, he will have a stiffer arm out because technology enables him to do that. Quit drinking the Kool-Aid until you sober up :-)
  • Interesting post. I have stumbled this for my friends. Hope others find it as interesting as I did.
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