I read an article recently by Steve Wildstrom about the influence that tech writers have over people based simply on the gadgets that the writer chooses to use. Steve’s article was addressing Apple products, in particular MacBooks and MacBook’s Pro. Steve’s point was that people in the tech industry (he calls them “tech elites”) overwhelmingly choose to use Apple products and he believes that this has an influence on people that read the post written by these writers.
I know that what tech elites use made a difference in my case. Three years ago I had never used in Apple Computer product and I was a little bit hesitant to even consider Apple products because of the cost and because of what I consider to be out of the mainstream type products (I recall thinking the Apple section at CompUSA was a waste of space). However, over a period of time I notice that nearly everyone that I listen to in a podcast, followed on twitter or read articles from was using an Apple computer product. Individuals like Mickey Papillon from The Cell Phone Junkie, Kevin Tofel from JK on the Run and Matt Miller from ZD were using Macs and it intrigued me.
Slowly, I came to the conclusion that it must not be an accident and there must actually be some benefits to using Apple Computer products. Eventually, I tried one Mac and since then I am using almost all Apple products. I am not still using Apple products because of “tech elites” but that was my introduction.
How about you, are you influenced by what gadgets tech “elites” are using?
I was influenced by what my son and daughter were using. iphones and then I started looking at computers. Actually bought an HP and returned it the next day for a mac book pro. I like the way the computer looks and functions. Still a lot to learn. A very powerful machine.
Thank you for the comment!