I’ve been using these terms for a while now, and people keep asking me to define them. So here’s my taxonomy of digital adoption.
Digitall
The digitally native innovator. They are early adopters, heavy users, and active participants in the shaping of digital culture. They were on Twitter before you’d heard of it. They’ve already moved on from whatever you just discovered.
Digicool
The digitally savvy mainstream user. They adopt early-to-mid, they use tools fluently, and they influence those around them. They’re not building the tools, but they’re shaping how they’re used.
Digitool
The functional user. They’re on Facebook because their family is on Facebook. They use email. They have a smartphone. But they’re not interested in the technology itself – only in what it does for them.
Diginots
Not online in any meaningful sense. By choice or by circumstance. Smaller than you think, but present.
Why does this matter? Because your strategy for reaching each of these groups is completely different. And most organisations treat them all the same.
The Digitall wants to be first. The Digicool wants to be smart. The Digitool wants to be helped. The Diginot wants to be met where they are.
Know who you’re talking to.