Intentcasting

What is intentcasting?

Here's a good definition from The Free Dictionary:

Intentcasting is broadcasting a goal over the Internet in order to make it happen. The intentcast can be very general in scope in order to inspire people to respond with solutions, or it can be very specific such as wanting to find a product that does something at a certain price point.

What makes a good intentcast?

In short:

A good intentcast reaches the right people and provides enough information to generate useful responses.

Let's look at this in detail...

Reaching the right people

If an intentcast is published somewhere on the Internet but nobody reads it, then it's not going to generate any responses at all, let alone useful responses. Therefore, it's essential that any intentcasting technology has suppliers who are listening and ready to reply. Moreover, it's essential that APPROPRIATE suppliers are listening, and ideally quite a lot of appropriate suppliers so that there's a good chance that one of them will be able to satisfy the buyer's needs.

Providing enough information to generate useful responses

As a minimum, an intentcast should provide information about what is wanted, where it is wanted, and when it is wanted.

Ideally there will be further information to allow suppliers to decide if it is a good opportunity for them, such as an indication of the buyer's available budget and other factors that the successful supplier will need to meet.

In addition, ideally there needs to be a "call to action". That is, suppliers should be given an indication of how to respond.

Example of a good intentcast

Here's an example of an intentcast that covers all the aspects described above:

I'm looking for: House Cleaner in Melbourne, Australia
Further information: Hi there, I am looking for a weekly cleaner for my flat in Melbourne. Please can you let me know your availability and pricing. Thanks, Steve.

The what, where and when aspects are all covered in an unambiguous way. Also, the further information (it's a weekly flat clean that is required) allows suppliers to qualify themselves in our out. Finally, there's a good call to action because they buyer is asking the supplier to reply with availability and pricing.

What about user privacy?

There's another aspect of intentcasting. Any intentcasting technology needs to publish the intentcast publicly so as to attract potential suppliers, and yet at the same time the buyer who raised the intentcast needs to retain their privacy. This enables people to request sensitive services (e.g. a sex therapist) without the buyer's identity becoming known to the world.