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Interesting commentary. However, a sample size on one doesn't yield a substantive-enough dataset to draw conclusions. As a high schooler, I can tell you that service use varies wildly based on location and demographic.

Moreover, Josh's sister didn't really differentiate between her preferences and the preferences of her cohort in general. She may have very idiosyncratic social media use-cases. I know the way in which I use social media is very different from the way in which some of my friends use it, which in turn differs from the way many others use it. People are different, and they use services differently.

I would take any assertion of how people use social media with a big grain of salt.




Josh doesn't imply otherwise.

He is explicit that this post represents reflections on a conversation he had with his sister; it is indeed anecdotal.


The value of the article is not in its statistical likelihood, but rather, in recognizing how his assumptions blinded him. And actually listening to people.


How is he to know if he was "blind?"

The fact that one girl exhibited preferences counter to his assumptions does not mean that those assumption are incorrect.


Because he expresses uncertainty in more than one of his take-aways. He uses stronger language when he has more confidence in the idea.

"This may have..." or "I believe" or "this seems" all suggest he isn't stating fact and is instead thinking out loud about the possible implications of his experience.

In other words: it's obvious the author knows he is reflecting on anecdotes.


"The fact that one girl exhibited preferences counter to his assumptions does not mean that those assumption are incorrect." <-- is exactly how you do not do customer development. You have stopped listening to the user.


Assuming the first user you talk to is representative of all users is exactly how you do not do customer development.


You're focusing on having things being driven by data. That is commendable. However, that only tells you a part of the story.

There's a big blind spot of people who depend on analyzing things like this. And that is, they stop listening to other people. It is usually because such people are consumed with being right, or even trying to prove themselves right. The skeptical stance gets distorted into requiring other people to challenge your assumptions. Sometimes, it is a covert (as in Jungian shadow covert) way of feeling good about being contemptuous of other people.

To really listen to other people, you give up the notion that it is all about you. In other words, it's better to assume that you don't know what you are are talking about. You don't have any preconceived notions blocking you from hearing someone out. You are not "listening" in the sense that you are waiting to for the other person to stop talking so you can tell them how they are wrong. You might even learn something.

This is exactly what customer development is about: listening to other people.

In any case, I doubt this will persuade you. That's the cool thing about this. Some people don't want to consider this, so it becomes an unfair advantage for the folks who do :-)


Just like I get an intuitive sense that this article is on-the-money, I get an intuitive sense that your comment is wrong. Intelligent, investigatory conversations with individual subjects can be extremely insightful, and speak to much larger trends.

Plus, I think you're discounting the power and spread of trends in youth culture. School is the pre-eminent breeding ground for fads.


I can assure you, these trends are not reflected at my school.

Why is her assertion of trends more valuable than mine or anyone else's? Why does her school better exemplify our cohort than mine or anyone else's?

One conversation does not constitute a definitive explanation for the social media use of a generation. Use changes based on location, income, race and gender balance, ect. in schools.

This is a complex topic. One anecdote can't offer any real insight.


> One anecdote can't offer any real insight.

First of all, it can if it leads you to further investigation.

Second, perhaps instead of only offering unhelpful criticism why don't you share what you see so we may all gain from a larger sample size?


I'm sorry, I didn't notice the part of your comment where you mentioned being a high schooler too - didn't mean to deny your contrasting experience. As the other commenter suggested, why don't you share your own take?




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