What’s fascinating to look at is how the tone of the
comments on the Kickstarter campaign changes over time: at first, they are resoundingly positive,
cheering for Mackenzie and her mother for encouraging her to do this. Then
after the information about Wilson’s background gets posted, they turn more
negative — but there are still lots of people telling her she is doing the
right thing. Over time, however, the number of negative responses increases,
and some commenters start to question whether it was even Mackenzie’s idea, and
criticize Wilson for saying she plans to identify her attackers.
For me at least, this episode feels a lot like what
happened to musician Amanda Palmer when she raised more than $1 million from her
fans in less than two weeks for a new album and tour. Even though she detailed
exactly how she would be using the money, there were still questions raised
when she started to invite musicians to play with her for free as part of the
tour. She eventually had to respond to
those criticisms publicly and repeatedly, and pay the musicians the
standard rate.
The lesson from both of these incidents is the same, I
think. If you are going to appeal to the crowd for support, then you are
essentially striking a bargain with them: they provide money, but you have to
do more than just provide whatever the end product is. You have to be as open
and transparent as possible and do whatever you can to maintain the trust of those
supporters, and that changes the dynamics of the situation completely. And once
that trust is lost, the game is effectively over. Read The Full Text by Mathew Ingram on gigaom
