Social Markers. Here I Am, Brain The Size Of A Planet.

“Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction?”

Do you know this quote? If you do, we have something in common, we both like the “Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” enough to know some of its text by heart. I would even assume we have a similar taste of humor.

When interacting with people you have just met, you can use this mechanism. Drop a quote from your favorite movie or book, and see if people respond. If not, that’s fine. If they do know its origin, you just created a short cut to connecting on a more intense level. You just established that you are both “the same”. At least, for some part.

Dave Prior and I discussed the use of verbal clues, or tokens as he calls them, in the second part of our recent podcast.

It’s about using quotes, or language in general, as a kind of “social marker“:

““Social markers” is a term created by Hugh MacLeod whose blog, GapingVoid, defines social markers as “ a prime form of social shorthand, that people use to STAKE OUT the ecosystem they’re occupying”. A brands social marker can be either good or bad. It is tagged by the conversations of those that have experienced the brands product, service or culture.”

By dropping “social markers” you give “your kind of people” an opportunity to identify themselves.

It’s not limited to language. You might wear a hat. Or even a duck, as Havi Brooks explains:

“I have a duck. I am a biggified blah blah expert whose business partner is a duck.
People who get it and think it’s cool are totally in.
People who think it’s stupid, or suspect that she’s — ewwwwwwwwwww — some kind of marketing ploy, are out. But not because I have to ask them to leave or anything. They just self-select out. They don’t stick.
Having red-velvet-rope Selma around (and let’s be honest, I don’t do anything without her) turns out to be a great way to help people find their way in or out.”

The use of social markers is something that fascinates me. It’s useful to anyone working for short periods of time with people they don’t know and might almost have no authority over.