Sometimes Interactive Isn’t

Posted by Doug on Sep 24, 2009 in Thoughts | 0 comments

One of my biggest frustrations in constantly having to explain the word ‘interactive’ to business associates and customers. It seems that when a word gets hot in marketing, everyone uses and abuses it until the meaning becomes blurred. So let’s start at the beginning. Webster’s defines ‘interactive’ as follows:

Main Entry: in·ter·ac·tive
Pronunciation: \-ˈak-tiv\

1 : mutually or reciprocally active

2 : involving the actions or input of a user; especially : of, relating to, or being a two-way electronic communication system (as a telephone, cable television or a computer) that involves a user’s orders (as for information or merchandise) or responses (as to a poll)

Personally, I prefer the first definition. I believe that interactive require a two-way exchange. The second definition is the one that gets abused by the computer industry most often. Adding a poll to a video conference does not make it ‘interactive’ in my book.The audience does not affect the program in any way. Polls are most often used as a gimmick by the presenter to ensure that the audience on the other end of the phone hasn’t fallen asleep.

But what difference does it make you may ask? Well, frankly, none unless you are trying to differentiate your product or service. For example, a system such as PresenterNet that allows the audience AND presenter to participate in the Webinar is truly interactive. The presenter provides interactive options  that are physically connected and simultaneous with the information being displayed, thus generating the ‘interactivity-at-point-of-business’ effect.

A new Interactive Museum has opened in New York highlighting 80 of the coolest ‘interactive’ gadgets of the past century. Now, granted, these gadgets are ‘way-cool’ to us gadget freaks, but the ability to turn something on with fewer buttons or adding video to a telephone doesn’t make it more interactive. Really cool items, bad word used to describe them. But if you are in New York, you might want to stop by and have a look anyway.