Small is Beautiful

Is getting bigger a good thing?

Ask Twitter. For weeks now, they’ve been dealing with the fallout of “success”—the microblogging service has been adopted (and adapted) by so many people, they’ve had to put the thing up on the rack so the technical widgets and gizmos that run it can be replaced, like tires burned out prematurely by a teenager’s drag racing addiction.

Some of the “teenagers” in question have been less than kind as they impatiently wait to get their social media hotrod back and rolling again. Technical details aside, the problem boils down to the fact that the makers of Twitter never intended for it to get this big.

Or you could ask the guys at 37signals, whose religious devotion to simplicity and keeping things scaled down have been the hallmark of their entire business.  It’s not exactly been an unsuccessful strategy for them.

Marketing guru Seth Godin weighed in with an entire (and very popular) book on the subject.

Referred to as “Facebook for the rich and famous,” invitation-only social network aSmallWorld.net has based its entire business model on exclusivity, focusing on a smaller but far more affluent and difficult to reach audience.

In the last few weeks here in Louisville, a news report highlighted some local businesses that are growing, even in a sluggish economy, by thinking small.

One of our clients here at Doe Anderson is Beam Global Spirits and Wine. Not exactly a small enterprise. But even a business as big as Beam recognizes the value of thinking small. Their small batch bourbons, like Knob Creek, are continuing to gather more enthusiasts and awards.

It turns out, just as there are some significant benefits to having a lot of something, keeping things small has its own advantages.

It all depends on what you’re looking to achieve.

img courtesy tanakawho on Flickr