Yesterday, Jeremiah Owyang made the following comment on Twitter, “For now, Plancast.com is pure of marketers and brands, just the early adopters. I’m sure they will sign up soon.” I had to laugh when I read it. Of course I knew what he meant, but “pure” is a relative term. And while the real “marketers and brands” may not be there, the marketing and sales behavior began only minutes after I signed up.
Plancast is built around a simple concept – tell the world what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it. Others who subscribe to your Plancast feed can see your plans decide to let the world know they’re joining you. Owyang calls this “The Intention Web.” A typical update looks like this.
That’s great. I imagine this is the perfect example of how the creators of Plancast.com intended it to be used. However, within moments of signing up on the site back on December 4, I received this plancast:
Last time I checked a blog post that didn’t qualify as a plan to do something, somewhere. My first reaction was a silent giggle. “Typical” was my thought. That update is an obvious attempt to force a sales message into a platform that wasn’t designed for that kind of message. So, “for now Plancast.com is pure of marketers” made me giggle a little bit too. The marketers may not be there, Jeremiah, but the marketing behaviors are. 
That said, I’m not at all worried that this kind of behavior will pollute the Plancast.com community, whatever that ends up looking like. The “force my sales message” way of using the site will either be rewarded or punished. Our cumulative reactions will determine whether it is accepted or rejected. No one person gets to decide. That’s the beauty of social networks. They are self organizing. It will be interesting to see which behaviors become accepted and which do not.
Where will the value lie? For me, Plancast.com has value only if it can help me easily and quickly understand where the people I want to connect with are going to be. It would certainly help me decide if a specific event is worth my time. That’s valuable. However, if it becomes a site peppered with links to blog posts, and messages about what people are doing at their desks, I have no use for it.
What are your thoughts?