Superficially, the internet is largely driven by novelty and short attention spans. Sure you can delve into any bizarre niche you wish with as much depth as possible, but most people are just happy to discover that there are, indeed, cats out there who wants a cheezburgers.
That’s why link-bait is so important to so many sites: It’s superficial, ephemeral and fleeting – and it gets people’s attention.
You want to know why cable propelled transit systems have seen so much growth in the last decade? Simple: They have link-bait built right into them.
Telling someone you can use ski lifts as public transit immediately – and I do mean immediately – gets their attention.
The vast majority will ask a few questions (sometimes dozens) and go about their day. But then there are the ones who really spend some time contemplating it, learning about it and understanding it. Those, not incidentally, are the ones that matter.
That’s when the product stops being a ridiculous ski lift and starts being a logical cable transit solution.
In fifteen years’ time, that won’t be the case. In fifteen years’ time, due in no small part to the speed of growth the technology is experiencing, telling someone that you can use a ski lift as public transit will elicit nothing but a yawn. In all probability, it won’t even be thought of as a ski lift at that point.
Just like comedy and life, marketing is really all about timing. And with the rise of the internet, cable transit’s timing couldn’t be better.