Comments on: 17 roles that emerge in online customer protests (with Amazonfail examples)

By: U?ur

U?ur — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:49:19 +0000

Hi, Instant communication yields instant opinion. We all have to be aware of that. All the time. Thanks

By: Mary Walker

Mary Walker — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:09:55 +0000

Thanks for reading and commenting! Yes, that's my feeling too — that while there are differences in each online crowd action — there are underlying common patterns.

There's been a lot of research done over the decades on the patterns of in-person crowd actions — protests, riots, etc — I hope some PhD student who's studying online behavior will do some more in-depth study of online crowd actions.

By: Steven Devijver

Steven Devijver — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:36:54 +0000

It just occurred to me that it could be very interesting to re-do this exercise for Susan Boyle's success. My first impression would be that you would end up with slightly less role and some different names for some roles but all in all very much the same.

Thanks for this great blog post.

By: Mary Walker

Mary Walker — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:25:23 +0000

Good observations — yup, mine was very much a first cut at a model / typography. As you say, there's a higher order of abstractions — and there's a timeline for how the protest develops, that ties into the roles. And the roles interrelate, as you observe — a single participant/post can serve the purpose of multiple roles.

I do hope somebody's doing serious research on this — other than people like me, speculating in our spare time — it's a rich topic, and there's plenty of data out there.

thanks for commenting!

By: Mary Walker

Mary Walker — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:21:09 +0000

Aha — thanks for the heads up — I'll check it. muchas gracias.

By: Joel Polowin

Joel Polowin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:41:12 +0000

Just wanted to point out that you might want to check your HTML. At the moment, the counter for section 8, with the right parenthesis, has been converted into a smiley graphic For Your Convenience.

By: David Harmon

David Harmon — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:31:43 +0000

It seems worth nothing that your 17 “roles” fall into a five or six spectrums and clusters. I’d put them in this rough sequence:

Aggrieved, Spark, and Town Crier start the process, which draws in Roll Call, Joiner, and Celebrity. As word spreads, several other groups join:

Activist and Investigator pave the way for Expert, Theorist, and Historian. Insider and Professional tend to trail this group.

Along the way, the hubbub pulls in the “chasers”: Contrarian, Paranoid, Tinhat, and Troll.

Obviously, one can argue about the order and grouping, especially as individuals from each group are trickling in throughout the process. This is just my own take on how the roles fit together and enable each other. It’s also worth noting that individuals often have multiple roles, which can interact — for example, Gaiman’s measured response would have fit the Roll Call pattern, but his net-active Celebrity probably gave it the effect of a Town Crier.