The Uncanny Valley of Internet Marketing - Part One

That internet marketing has a steep learning curve is not a position with which many people would argue. To a novice, the range of skills that are needed to run a successful online business can appear incredibly daunting.

So why is it that so many who attempt to break into this field, give up; not near the beginning of their journey when the mountain of knowledge that must be climbed seems insurmountable, but months or even years later when their abilities and experience in internet marketing has never been greater?

Could it be, that the internet marketing niche has its very own ?Uncanny Valley??

If you?re not familiar with the term, the Uncanny Valley is a term that is used to explain the eerie and revolting nature of realistic looking, humanoid robots.

Uh-oh! Tenuous link alert? No, really, bear with me.

The theory goes that as humanoid robots become more detailed and life-like, their resemblance to humans comes ever closer. But, at a certain point in the progression, only a little way before becoming indistinguishable from the real thing, the humanoid robot?s resemblance to a living, breathing human, plummets.

At this point, the robot appears LESS human and, worse, becomes something creepy, unnatural and? well? uncanny.

If you then continue to make the robot appear MORE human, it isn?t long before the sinister quality fades away and it begins to appear more lifelike. If we were to continue on this course, on outward appearances at least, it would eventually be impossible to tell it apart from the real thing.

The reason this phenomenon is called the Uncanny Valley is clear once you plot it on a graph comparing how many life-like qualities a robot has, against our emotional reaction to it.

Image of Uncanny Valley Graph: http://bit.ly/a8RZTI

What is unusual about this graph is that, once the resemblance has plunged into the nightmarish depths of a Doctor Who episode, shortly afterwards, the progression recovers. The result is a narrow, but deep valley (hence the name).

Usually when something is made more detailed, or improved, its effectiveness at accomplishing its purpose increases. The rate of increase may vary, but to improve something and, at some point, start to see it become LESS effective, is hard to comprehend.

For example, if you make a painting of a cat more detailed and more accurate, it increasingly resembles its subject. It doesn?t, at some point, suddenly start looking like an alien.

If you constantly increase the amount you eat, you will steadily increase in size. There isn?t a point on the scale, where overeating suddenly causes drastic weight loss.

If you exercise and train regularly, your stamina will improve accordingly. There?s no drop-off point where exercising suddenly makes you become weak and unfit.

The Uncanny Valley effect, is most definitely not a common event.


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To read the rest of this article, please go to www.thelucidblog.com/uncanny-valley-internet-marketing/ To read more articles by David Congreave, go to The Lucid Blog