The Adjacent User Theory
andrewchen.co
The Adjacent User Theory
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Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#2This is the kind of pathological “growth mindset” that brought our social media troubles upon us.
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#3This is the kind of pathological “growth mindset” that brought our social media troubles upon us.
Why is it pathological?
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#4This is the kind of pathological “growth mindset” that brought our social media troubles upon us.
Why is it pathological?
They want exponential growth purely because it is exponential. They aren't chasing anything other than that metric, they didn't ask how they could make it better, they didn't ask their current users what could make it better, they aren't asking if they are creating value, they simply said "huh, 400mil isn't enough, give me more". It's the obsession that makes it pathological.
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#5The tone of the article rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Consider these two paragraphs:
The Adjacent Users are aware of a product and possibly tried using the it, but are not able to successfully become an engaged user. This is typically because the current product positioning or experience has too many barriers to adoption for them.
While Instagram had product-market fit for 400+ million people, we discovered new groups of users who didn’t quite understand Instagram and how it fit into their lives.
There's so much assumption there. "not able to successfully become an engaged user"; "too many barriers to adoption"; "didn't quite understand [...] how it fit into their lives". No question about whether potential users are interested in the product in the first place? It's so life-changing that if someone decides not to use the thing, it's because they failed at becoming engaged, or just don't understand that it's life-changing?
I'm confused. Maybe this is the level of delusions of grandeur you need to succeed at that scale with that kind of product, and I'm just hopelessly naive :(
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#6The tone of the article rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Consider these two paragraphs: The Adjacent Users are aware of a product and possibly tried using the it, but are not able to successfully become an engaged user. This is typically because the current product positioning or experience has too many barriers to adoption for them. While Instagram had product-market fit for 400+ million people, we discovered…
The article completely dehumanizes Instagram users, it's a window into the lack of empathy social media companies have for other human beings.
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#7The tone of the article rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Consider these two paragraphs: The Adjacent Users are aware of a product and possibly tried using the it, but are not able to successfully become an engaged user. This is typically because the current product positioning or experience has too many barriers to adoption for them. While Instagram had product-market fit for 400+ million people, we discovered…
> No question about whether potential users are interested in the product in the first place?
They do show interest, tho. From the article:
> There are a set of users who show intent for your product but are not quite able to get over the hump. Those are your adjacent users.
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#8This is the kind of pathological “growth mindset” that brought our social media troubles upon us.
Why is it pathological?
Why is cancer pathological?
Because cancerous cells prioritize their own growth over the health of the wider system in which they exist.
Companies with this mindset do not reach a point at which they say "ok, we're big enough now". There is no target size they're trying to reach, there is only a target year-over-year multiplicative growth rate. They prioritize growth over providing value to the users they have. They grow without regard for the effect it has on social dynamics within the system (changing what the product is good for and what it's bad for), or the effect it has on social dynamics beyond the system.
It's the Paperclip Maximizer approach to business. And, of course, it's the stock market approach to business too.
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#9Nice work on that 'sign-up for my newsletter', fullscreen, non-closable modal screen that pops up after reading a few paragraphs! Nice way to capture your adjacent users and convert them to whatever-core-something-engaged power customer.
Re: The Adjacent User Theory
#10[deleted]