Statistics Vs. Grass Roots

Just a note on why big companies and organizations think you are nothing.

When a survey is conducted to discover if people in Stone Harbor, NJ like to eat octopus at Marabella's Restaurant, they don't actually ask everyone in Stone Harbor. The island has a population of about 20k. They might ask about 200 people or 1%. Here is a set of results for your brain:

Survey question:
Do you like to eat octopus?
80 people of 200 respond YES
Math: 80/200= .4 or 40%

Survey results: 40% of Stone Harbor residents like to eat octopus.

Ok, so you see this and you're like, "Yuck! We don't like octopus in Stone Harbor, we like chocolate cookies!" (personally, I'll take the octopus!). So you start a grassroots campaign to show that Stone Harbor residents like chocolate cookies. You start a facebook page and in a month you get 3,000 Stone Harbor people to "like" your page. The comments are awesome, everyone agrees! So you take all your info to the owners of Marabella's and show them that they should serve chocolate cookies NOT octopus. You clearly show that over 3,000 people agree.

They reject your claim based on the following information:
40% of Stone Harbor Residents like octopus based on a recent survey.
15% of Stone Harbor Residents like chocolate cookies based on the information you provided.

How's that work out? Here's the math as companies often see it:
3,000 people DIVIDED BY 20,000 residents = .15 or 15%

This plays out over and over again in almost any subject that relies on data. Popular music, political polls, television ratings, et cetera. This is why your favorite show gets cancelled, why local bands have so much trouble getting airplay, and why fringe candidates don't stand a chance.

In closing, the above example is why it is so hard to take grass roots movements to the next level. Work hard and kick ass and it is possible. It's just really hard because they use different gauges than real world absolutes.

Above The Shower (video not blog)

Hey everyone. We've been really busy working on Summer Saved Me and booking out for the summer so I apologize for not posting! Here is a link to the Official Lyric Video for "Above The Shower" off of Mixed Signals. Before you ask, yes the girl in the video is the same girl that appears on the cover of Mixed Signals. Her name is Taylor and she's awesome! Thanks so much Taylor!!