Attn: Crazy People. I Have a Few Quick Questions.

I need some help, but you have to be crazy to be able to help. You see, there are tens of thousands of people that are extremely devoted to some team, politician, band or idea. Now my questions to these people is simply, Why?

Why

• do you cancel life when your team is playing?
• do you start fistfights with the other team’s fans when they score a goal?
• do you burn the memorabilia you’ve collected for years when your favorite player switches teams?
• do you wait in line for months to see a movie?
• do you travel across the nation following after your favorite band?
• do you volunteer most of your time and money for your politician or cause?
• do you defend your politician when some crippling news of corruption is leaked?
• do you spend so much of your energy devoted to a group, person or idea that will most likely never know of your existence?

Now just to be clear, I am in no way trying to poke fun of these types of people. I am simply curious because I have never had the passion for something as these people have had. I would just like to know what motivates them to such a degree to give what seems like so much to something that probably isn’t influenced much by their efforts.

Now a question to the not so crazies.

How can we get people crazy enough about our ideas, projects or blogs to support us in a crazy-like manner?

How powerful could that be to have a group of people so devoted that they spread your message to all those that they meet? They purchase something you offer the day it is available without needing to convince them of its value. They forgive your flaws and mistakes and continue to support you.

Next week I will be publishing a post on different types of fans that exist and how to make them better fans. It’s easy to focus on metrics, such as RSS subscribers, to determine how many fans you have, but how often do we think about the ‘quality’ of our fans. Take a few moments this week to think about what type of visitors you get and some possible methods to help make them more devoted to your blog.

I’ll leave with this bit of standup from comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify.  Because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you’re actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it.  You know what I mean, you are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city.  Fans will be so in love with a player but if he goes to another team, they boo him.  This is the same human being in a different shirt, they *hate* him now.  Boo!  different shirt!!  Boo.

So are you crazy enough to be able to answer a few of my questions? If so please let me know in the comments. Even if you’re not crazy about something I’d love to hear your take on it.