The Hierarchy of Social Needs13.09.09
Once I started thinking about it, I couldn’t really remember the last time I read a business/marketing book that didn’t mention Mazlow’s famous “hierarchy of needs” within the first 50 odd pages.
Its not like this is a bad thing either – business is inexplicably tied to psychology – be it the psychology of customers, competitors, or even one’s own co-workers (within the realm of management science).
While there are plenty of worthy psychology frameworks out there, Mazlow’s hierarchy is paid special attention because of how well it fits into the context of product positioning – a facet of business which almost all units must pay attention to, just not marketing. It is also an elegant framework for understanding consumers’ motives for action. By designing a product that meets a consumers’ needs, consumers will more often choose that product than of a competitor. Whichever product better fulfills this void will be chosen more frequently, thus increasing sales.
As the proliferation of social media continues unabashed, I couldn’t help but think about how the the most popular social networks relate directly to this hierarchy.
Think about it for a moment. All social media applications will (consciously or otherwise) fulfill a specific level (or in some cases levels) of need, that when engaged, will render the previous networks void.
To illustrate the concept, here is depiction of what I like to call the hierarchy of social needs – which is basically Mazlow’s classic model juxtaposed with social networks that I think (at least from gut reaction) fulfill the same hierarchical needs.
Working from the bottom up, we can dissect the model as follows:
Physiological - Encompassing all of our base human needs is something that is normally outside the realm of traditional social networks (unless it is altruistic, which will be addressed later) but there is one area where it really shines – personal health. Services like 23AndMe & WebMD let users take control of their future health, while services like FitBit allow them to track their every move and make adjustments accordingly.
Safety – When base needs have been met, we inherit the challenge of protecting our exogenous physical possessions; things like our finances, property, and careers. Since the basis of exchange for all exogenous possessions is money – which is rapidly becoming a purely digital medium – there are ample networks to monitor them. Where as services like Mint look after our total accrued wealth, we have services like Zillow which uses data to look at the valuation of property. On the flipside we also have networks like Monster which monitor employment, the basis by which most people obtain money.
Love/belonging – Once our personal needs have been met by the previous two levels, the next logical step is to find belonging amongst those with similar beliefs. While this might take of the form of belonging through a shared history (hence the inclusion of genealogy networks like Ancestry), it can also take the form of shared interests or life-goals, hence the inclusion of networks specifically designed to foster relationships like eHarmony.
Esteem -The level of need which I would argue most social networks occupy, Esteem deals with such things as social acceptance, achievement, confidence and respect. If you think about it, what are Facebook or Twitter other then a vehicle to gain recognition from a network of like-minded peers. The tools between networks might change – information for Twitter, pictures for Facebook, stories submitted to Digg, or number of friends on Myspace – but the ultimate end-game for each is to boost esteem/ego by becoming a valuable node in the network.
Self-actualization – Once all the other levels of need have been fulfilled, the only remainder is to deal with abstract constructs like artistic endeavors, creativity, altruism and morality. With this definition in hand it makes sense then that networks such as Flickr, DeviantArt, or Behance can be classified under this level of need rather then Esteem since they are explicitly centered around artistic pursuits. Other networks like Wikipedia and Kiva can also be considered as such since they aim to expand the good of all by tapping into the expert knowledge and goodwill of their benefactors.
