Are You a Geek?

Last week saw the Cape Town launch of 27Dinner which managed to set off a bit of a geeks vs. marketers war on the SA blogosphere.

Some of it is related to a misunderstanding of the meaning of words such as 'geek', swearwords such as 'marketer' and funky new words such as 'jeek'.

Let's have a look at some of these words.

First off, 'jeek' is the stupidest word of 2010. Remove 2.7182, throw in an 'r' and you get 'jerk'. Furthermore, the definition that's been touted on some blogs for 'jeek' is just plain wrong. A 'jeek' is NOT "someone who succeeds at the nexus of media, technology and business"

In fact, 'jeek' is a cross between 'jock' and 'geek'. According to the Urban Dictionary: "Might be socially inept, but usually muscular and takes various sports. Often has some close friends and gets good grades. Spends life on computer when not working out or playing sports."

So that's sorted... Now, let's move on to 'geek'.

A geek is NOT a computer nerd... A geek is not someone who wears inch-thick glasses and makes toilet bombs with Sodium Iodide and Hydrogen Peroxide. (okay, sometimes we do)

A geek is someone who is curious, information hungry and on a constant quest for more knowledge. According to Wikipedia, a "geek is an individual who is fascinated by knowledge and imagination"

Geeks use information, logic and their imagination to make decisions or come up with new ideas. You get different kinds of geeks. Of course you have computer geeks but you also have botany geeks, philosophy geeks, music geeks, design geeks and (gasp!) marketing geeks!

So why the popular association of 'geek' with 'computer nerd'? Because almost all geeks use computers. Why? Because a computer is the greatest information tool around and all geeks are information addicts. Many geeks will become extremely adept at using this tool and take some extra time learning how to get the most out of it.

So why the perceived threat from marketers? This is because many marketers up till now have not bothered with the information, but rather relied on soft-skills. Some marketers are catching up and are spending a bit more time in front of their computers, slowly evolving (being upgraded?) into geeks.

Marketers need to KNOW what is going on and they have to be constantly increasing their knowledge base. Another definition of a 'geek' offered by Wikipedia (as the one most common among geeks themselves) is "one who is primarily motivated by passion". The stereotypical marketer is seldom motivated by passion, and therefore is seldom 'geek'. However, lately this is starting to change. Seth Godin is someone who is clearly motivated by passion and so are quite a few marketers I've met lately.

So why am I bothering with this post?

Because I strongly believe we should keep the 27 Geek Dinner concept going, rather than pitting 'geeks' vs. 'marketers' or bringing silly terms such as 'jeek'. Mike and Dave are two deep geeks, and they've done a lot to bring together geeks of different disciplines: programming, media, marketing, podcasting, mobile technologists and you name it.

The computer geeks build the products, but need to understand the marketing better. Vice versa, the marketing geeks need to get a thorough understanding of the product and the market.

Marketing geeks should not just be involved in selling products dreamt up by programming geeks, but should be more involved in the design process from day 1.

All these people are geeks, but they do different things and can learn a lot from each other. Bringing them together will lead to better products reaching more people! A win-win situation.

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