Digital Dialogs

Why I've been ignoring my blog

2008-07-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

I recently launched an internal blog at the agency where I work, and it's been interesting growing this new community. While I consult with clients often on how to grow their own communities, it's been a little while since I've seeded my own.

The funny thing is that, while I've been doing this for the past 14 years, the basics are still the same:

1. Seeding and moderation
Someone has to go first and that often means you. It means posting (to start discussions) and commenting (to keep discussions going that others have started) while not overpowering the general ebb and flow of the community. It also means keeping an eye out for trouble.

2. Patience
Those of you who have built communities from the ground up know all about this. It's not an overnight matter. While many of the clients I have worked with are anxious to grow big and grow fast, that's not always the case, even for the success stories. I was on Facebook with one other "friend" for at least six months before most of my other friends and coworkers signed up. I've had similar experiences with LinkedIn and Plaxo.

3. Participation
Conventional wisdom (and the research) on this topic has for many years shown that typically only 10 percent of an audience is "active." The rest are lurkers. Of course lurkers count too (some of us would prefer to watch the game rather than play and there's nothing wrong with that). But please don't let this number get you down--remember that other forms of media, such as direct mail, often have much lower participation rates. So if you're hovering around 10 percent, congratulate yourself for a job well done and remember the folks who are participating by watching. (For research done on this subject Google "Jenny Preece.")

The death of the "big idea"

2008-07-09T21:05:00.001-07:00

In the battle of old and new media, I think the geeks are edging ahead...

Choice is the new brand

2008-07-07T16:00:00.001-07:00

Remember when a "branded" experience was exclusive to one brand--or possibly two for a "co-branded" experience?

Well, what happens when the experience is about the consumer and not the brand? How do we deliver that experience? A few companies have ventured into that space, offering a shopping experience that sets aside the ego of the brand to better serve the consumer.

I'm not talking about Amazon or Target, who are in the business of selling multiple brands, but rather sites such as Ford.com and the Gap family of brands (full disclosure, I worked on the Ford.com team in 2005-2006).

All of the Ford brands (from Mazda to Volvo) play nice in the Ford Vehicle Showroom, which puts the consumer's needs at the forefront by allowing them to shop by vehicle type, MPG, and other features, across brand (you can also shop by brand if you so choose).

Then there's the Gap site which shares one shopping cart across four brands (Banana Republic, Gap, Old Navy and Piper Lime). That means consumers can take advantage of savings on shipping and, while I don't have the statistics, I would bet encourages cross brand shopping. I would hope the next step for Gap would be to integrate products so I could search for "baby" and see products from Old Navy and Gap Baby.

These seem like small, common sense steps in a user-centric web, but I would suggest they are gigantic leaps. I'd also suggest that we need to continue to rethink brand and remember to put consumers ahead of products in the shopping experience.

The white board as social media

2008-07-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

Social media is all about the feedback loop. When people can feed back into a system they create noise, and noise is what creates the potential for change.

In this way, white boards could be considered a type of social media. They are a place for people to think out loud and to provide feedback. They are a place for shared creation and collaborative problem solving.

So what kind of culture does a company foster when white boards are few and far between? Or hidden?

I recently had this experience and I can say that personally, it feels stifling. I want white boards down the hall and covering an entire wall of my office. I want people to be able to pick up a pen and feel free to express themselves.

This is where social media and the way it has taught us to think and act starts to influence the real world.

Users are people too

2008-06-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

I like to think of myself as a "user experience" professional. I advocate for "users" of a system, doing my best to understand their needs and build an experience that meets those needs.

Then today I read this post on Jeremiah Owyang's blog and it became super clear to me that I need to stop talking about "users."

While users may indeed be using a system or they may be a consumer of a website, these are just small parts of the bigger picture. As we start to adapt central identification standards, as we move toward a truly "user"-centric web, as as the web experience influences the product experience, we need to start thinking of our users, and our jobs, more holistically.

Those terms served us for awhile but I'd suggest that us UX professionals, we change our vocabulary here. Maybe UX should be called People Experience? Or Human Experience? Or maybe we should follow some of my former Razorship colleagues in NYC who simply called it "Experience."

After all, users are people too and when we think of them on these terms we may do an even better job at creating experiences that resonate more clearly.

Gas and the Internet

2008-06-18T15:39:00.001-07:00

Word on the street is, "this isn't our bubble," meaning that the technology sector isn't feeling the pain of this economic downturn as much as others (we had our turn, thank you). Interestingly, online commerce seems to have been boosted by the high price of gas.

A few weeks ago, I was vacationing on a small island outside of Seattle and wandered into a darling puppet store to buy some gifts for my son. Of course, I always want to know if good stores have websites (this one does) and got into an interesting conversation with its owner. Bottom line is this: May sales online increased dramatically, and the owner attributed it to high gas prices. People aren't traveling as much, but they can easily go online, he said.

Then today I read in Reuters that accordinng to Vinton Cerf, vice president and chief Internet evangelist at Google, "the ongoing energy price surge and economic slowdown may have a positive impact on the Internet business as people try to cut fuel use and improve efficiency."

It's an interesting place to be. No one wishes for higher gas prices (well maybe the oil companies do) or hard times for anyone. But if there's any good to come out of this for the tech sector, maybe it is that people will go online more.

Of course that means we better do right by them. This may be our chance to reach customers who would never or rarely shop online before. Are we ready for it? Did we build online experiences that go beyond a shopping cart and that provide meaningful data to both users and site owners? And if not, are we ready to take user experience seriously? This may not be our bubble but let's learn from it like we did when it was our own.

Birth announcements via twitter

2008-06-13T13:01:00.001-07:00

For those who asked (and yes I have been asked), I did in fact announce the birth of my son on twitter. It took me seven hours (please forgive me, I did not have access to my cell phone during that time) but it was the best I could do. Here's the announcement:

What I learned about community on maternity leave

2008-06-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings.

It's been about three months since I've posted to this blog. I took a short leave to spend time with my new son, a.k.a. the cutest baby in the world. I tried not to think about work too much, but since community and social media is a personal love of mine, it was hard to turn off that part of my brain.

And so as we took our daily walk through our neighborhood, the baby nodding off in his stroller, I often thought about community. I did so probably because as I walked down the street, I ran into people who would simply strike up a conversation with me.

There were people who I knew and spoke with often, such as Don at Vivace (easily one of Seattle's best baristas) where we'd get our morning coffee. We saw him every day, and since I often talked to him, it was not odd to extend our conversation. Then there were the folks I knew who stopped to chat instead of saying just a quick hello. And finally there were the complete strangers who I ended up chatting with for 15 minutes.

Many times, people spoke to me because they wanted to share a story about their children or grandchildren, or maybe they were pregnant or thinking about having a child. It was a content discussion, and since we know that people gather to share stories on shared topics, that's not surprising.

What was surprising was that the baby served as a permission to strike up a conversation. It was, as if, my son became a social lubricant, sort of like a martini.

Which made me wonder: what is the equivalent to a social lubricant in an online community? Sure there's status, i.e. "I'm looking to meet friends." And yes friends introduce friends to each other. But there must be something more than that, something that's not just a point of commonality, but a permission. Is there a tool we could create to lubricate community?

I don't necessarily have the answer, but I will continue to ponder that question, because I think that if we can figure that out, online communities will become more compelling. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks, and good to be back.

Say hello to Christopher Gabriel

2008-03-24T23:09:00.001-07:00

We welcomed Christopher Gabriel into the world on March 20 at 1:26am. He was 8 pounds, 12 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Everyone is well and happy :)

Time Warner to buy Bebo

2008-03-13T11:48:00.001-07:00

Wow. Just when you think Web 1.0 doesn't get Web 2.0, AOL goes and buys Bebo. If you haven't heard of Bebo, it's not surprising. While it ranks third (after Facebook and MySpace) in the U.S., it's popular mostly with the younger set. But it's the number one socnet site in Britain, Ireland and New Zealand with about 40 million users. The price tag? $850 billion, according to Reuters. Now let's just hope AOL doesn't ruin it.

SXSW Opening Remarks Sketch

2008-03-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is too good not to share--a "live drawn" sketch of Henry Jenkins' and Steven Johnson's opening remarks at SXSW this year. For more, visit Jenkin's blog.

Don't blame Twitter for the Zuckerberg interview gone bad

2008-03-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't follow the happenings of SXSW, you may have missed out on what happened with the Mark Zuckerberg (the 23-year old billionaire owner of Facebook) keynote interview. Basically, Sarah Lacy from BusinessWeek interviewed him and the crowd was so disappointed they started Twittering live about how horrible the interview was.

This is the magic and wonder of Twitter, and really all social media. It allows for instant connection among the masses by filling the antiquated one-way media channel with noise. This is a good thing.

But not according to ZDNet O'Hear reporter who says:

"I think another factor in the keynote’s downfall was the use of Twitter as a so-called ‘back channel’. With keynote attendees able to share live commentary instantly, a negative response can spread like wildfire in a profound way that is very different to what’s possible without such connectivity."

Why, Mr. O'Hear, is this a downfall? Shall we revert to our naive trust in the mainstream media for all that is fair and good and not question? I think not. If anything Twitter added to the coverage by pointing out the interviews downfalls.

And btw, I would have posted this comment on ZDNet as well but their registration process is invasive--in addition to my name and email address, which I have no problem providing, it required that I provide my company's name and street address. Get with it ZDNet.

SXSW | Panels I would attend if I were attending

2008-03-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

I'm about to have a baby in about two weeks here, so no SXSW for me this year. But I did look at the schedule for a colleague and wanted to share what I thought were some panels that shouldn't be missed.

SATURDAY

The Weird Turn Pro: Crowdsourcing For Creatives
11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Social Marketing Strategies Metrics, Where Are They?
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Social Network Coups: The Users are Revolting!
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

SUNDAY

Social Design Strategies
10:00 am - 11:00 am

The Science of Designing Interactions
10:00 am - 11:00 am

Magic and Mental Models: Using Illusion to Simplify Designs
11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Tools for Enchantment: 20 Ways to Woo Users
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

MONDAY

True Stories from Social Media Sites
11:30 am - 12:30 pm

If anyone is live blogging, please let me know. And if you're going, have a great time!

My new favorite cooking website

2008-02-27T11:05:00.001-08:00

I heart allrecipes.com and I have for awhile now. The interface is great, allowing users to easily change proportions, print out recipe cards in a variety of sizes, and generally customize the experience as needed.

But today I discovered Cookthink.com, and well, wow. This site is cool. It allows you to search for recipes based on your cravings. So, for example, you can search by ingredient, dish, cusine or even mood.

A search for "yogurt" and "soulful" returned a recipe for White Gazpacho with Mint & Apple. A search for "uplifting" "Mexican" "chocolate" returned a recipe for a Flourless Chocolate Flour-Basil Torte.

It's by no means perfect, but as the data base grows based on user input, it can only get better. Plus the concept is great. It's metadata put to good use!

Show me the money

2008-02-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

Here's what I want to know: when will organizations take the Internet seriously? Study after study shows its growing influence, yet budgets still remain in TV and print. Here's the latest:

Maybe as Marshall McLuhan says, it's just easier to live in the past than on the cutting edge. Too bad, since the opportunity is so great.

Tech Talk @ Google

2008-02-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

At Google Seattle tomorrow:

Web Archives & Interfaces for Social Studies of Online Action

About the Topic:
Capturing Web-based phenomena for retrospective and developmental analyses is a challenging necessity for social researchers interested in understanding online action. Choices at each step in the process of creating Web archives and archive interfaces reflect particular forms of knowledge, and shape the kinds of analyses that will be possible for archive users. We will compare several different Web archive interfaces, exploring how each shapes analysis paths that enable and constrain the lines of inquiry that can be pursued and the kinds of knowledge produced.

About the Speaker:
Kirsten Foot, Associate Professor of Communication, UW
Kirsten Foot earned her PhD in Communication at UC San Diego, and is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Washington in the areas of communication technologies & society and international communication. Her research interests include the reciprocal relationship between information/communication technologies and knowledge production. As one of the directors of the WebArchivist.org research group, she develops new tool and techniques for studying social and political action on the Web. She is the coauthor of Web Campaigning (MIT Press, 2006), coeditor of The Internet and National Elections (Routledge, 2007), and coproducer of several Web archives. She is an editor for the Acting With Technology book series at MIT Press, and an organizer for the Digital Media Working Group network at UW.

I'll be there, looks fascinating! More info.

Ratings & Reviews | A baseline for retail

2008-02-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

Ratings and reviews aren't always seen as "social media," possibly because they're not as exciting as social networks or as en vogue as blogs. But they're an often overlooked social application--but I would suggest one that should be a baseline for any retail website.

Today, eMarketer published an article with studies that suggest ratings and reviews are essential to online shoppers. Not only are they the most desired of Web functions, but they are highly valued. Here are two charts that illustrate this:

If they are so useful, why aren't more websites integrating them into the user experience? My guess is that most companies are afraid of them. "What if someone says something bad?" is the most common question I am asked by my clients.

I tell them two things. First, it's ok if someone says something bad. It provides you with a chance to listen to them (like a free focus group!). But also, one bad interview does not necessarily turn a potential customer away. I fact, research I have conducted has shown that users want the good and the bad--they tell me they are smart enough to evaluate each response and to make up their own mind.

Second, a bad review is an opportunity for the next user to counter. Not only does it happens, but this type of advocacy is invaluable. You can't pay your best PR people for it.

I'd really like to see more retailers experiment with ratings and reviews. Your customers want them. Shouldn't you give it a try?

The caucuses as social media

2008-02-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

I attended the Washington State caucuses on Saturday and was reminded once again where this concept we call social media comes from.

I walked over to Lowell Elementary school with my husband where we joined our fellow neighbors. The place was packed. Once we all got settled by precinct, everyone stated their candidate preference. The count, before debate, was 59 for Obama, 17 for Clinton (including myself) and 14 undecided. That meant that Obama would get four delegates, Clinton would get one and the undecided group would get one.

Then we talked, trying to convince each other in an effort to win over delegates. Having the big mouth that I do, I of course had to speak up on behalf of Clinton. But many people from all sides shared. When we recounted, many from the undecided group moved to the Clinton camp, which meant Clinton got one more delegate, for a total of two.

It was a fascinating process, and it reminded me how each of us can make a change just by speaking up.

And that's exactly how social media works. Like or don't like a candidate, a service, a product? Say something on Epinions or Amazon or another site. Wondering why a story has been dropped from the mainstream media? Blog about it. The Internet is the great equalizer, it's a democratic check-point if you will. And no matter how much big business is trying to take it over, the voice of the average guy or gal--that's you and me--is not only heard but often considered more credible that the voice of big business or mass media.

And isn't that how democracy is supposed to work?

Google's Social Graph API

2008-02-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

Last week Google released their Social Graph API, which, if implemented on a site would essentially allow a user on a new social network to more easily connect with existing friends. It basically attempts to solve the problem of slow growth for a user who would otherwise have to individually seek out friends and recreate their friends list every time they joined a new network. We've all been there.

2008 does indeed seem to be the year of the user, with the DataPortability movement taking hold and OpenID (and similar applications) being adopted by large web properties. Google's API is just another piece of the user-centric pie, and one that moves us a little further toward the "web as platform" promise.

What I have found interesting in the last week is that there are two camps forming around this API. On the one hand, you have proponents such as Tim O'Reilly and on the other hand, you have folks such as danah boyd concerned about privacy and exposure. I greatly respect these folks and I understand the concerns, but I am also surprised by the trepidation.

As with any new technology, this API can certainly be used for good or for evil. And as with any user-centric experience, the user should be able to opt out. But all in all, this API empowers data--and it empowers data that exists publicly. We are not victims here. If we have participated online or connected with others, there are consequences to this (I personally giggle a little when I look at my Usenet entries a la 1995, now archived by Google). But that information was put out there by me. I have the choice of what to expose, unlike cookies which just track my behavior.

I'd like to see us give this API a chance. I get the fears and concerns, but it's nothing we haven't tackled before. If this is a user's web, then let's empower the users and have faith that they will win out in the end.

Danah Boyd: Defining social networking

2008-01-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

Danah Boyd, as always, has an interesting conversation happening on her blog. I'm posting my response here, in a little more detail. There's a number of other thoughtful responses on her blog as well, so I encourage you to check that out.

So what is a social network?

As a general rule, I use the term "social media" to encompass the broad range of technologies that provide a feedback loop. This includes blogs, collaborative publishing sites, forums, and social networking sites. These media forms allow for a feedback loop

I view social networking sites as a subset of social media. They are different for the following reasons:

1. They have different requirements than other types of social media, for example, social networking sites require a profiling or identity management system

2. They focus on "me" the user--in fact the draw to social networking sites is "me," whereas the draw to say forums or blogs is usually a specific topic or conversation.

3. The intent is different. I use social networking sites to connect with people I know, and occasionally meet some new people. With forums, blogs, wikis, etc., my intent is to learn something new or to contribute information.

Those are just a few thoughts. If you have others, please feel free to share.

Social networks: An ancient way of communicating

2008-01-18T10:47:00.001-08:00

Courtesy of BusinessWeek, here's yet another reminder that the social web is not new—it's just a different form of an old way of communicating:

“For thousands of years before communications became industrialized, people chose a bakery or blacksmith based on word-of-mouth recommendations, reputation, and social networks … So today, as a new set of community thttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifechnologies develop on the Internet, we should not be surprised to discover that the sociology of how we buy isn't new at all. In fact, it is as old as civilization. Today's markets will come to resemble these pre-industrial markets, with some major exceptions. Our pre-industrial ancestors were constrained by time and distance in developing opinions about vendors. But in the post-industrial world, reputation, relationships, and recommendations can come at any time from anywhere to affect a purchase decision.”

Theorist Brian Massumi might refer to this as a technology of “emergent experience,” (Parables of the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation, p.192) in that these virtual spaces have the ability to “connect and interfuse different spheres of activity on the same operational plane,” thus potentially creating a new effect, such as in the form of a relationship or an experience.

While we traditionally think of community in geographic terms, online communities rely less on space location and more on the defining element of common interests, which might be called interest location. That means that involvement requires presence in interest rather than presence in physical location.

Massumi talks about proprioception, or a sixth sense, and I think this is vital to online communities. That's because it's not an issue of finding one’s way in a physical space where one may not be oriented, but rather, how one finds one’s way through an online community. If this space is mapped by common interest rather than space, then finding one’s way takes on an entire new meaning. The question that arises, is how one finds their way to those who share common interests.

So what does that all mean if you're trying to build a community? It means that the interaction design is vital to its success. Elements such as profiling, navigation, and interaction functionality all contribute to your community's success. So don't ignore them. Enlist some serious UX folks who know the ins and outs of community and who can create that space in which those with common interests can share.

Social Media to Rock Web

2008-01-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Its' always interesting to read the tech press in January, when all of the predictions come out for the year ahead. The latest comes from vnunet.com, who has declared that in 2008, social media will rock the web.

I don't doubt it—-after all, social media has been gaining ground for 20 years now, and I have yet to witness many naysayers. Yes, there are those who are afraid of social media, specifically organizations who don't care to listen to their consumers, but overall, it's hard to challenge the human need to connect, which is the core of social media.

I specifically liked this part of vnunet's prediction:

"Traditional models for businesses to research their consumers are also expected to change. Customer information will be enriched by data found on the social web to supersede traditional research tools such as questionnaires and focus groups. Feedback and influence from social networks will ultimately become more significant factors in the purchasing decision cycle."

It's that combination of objective data exposed to the consumer, combined with subjective consumer feedback that is compelling. No matter what the product or service, there's always a way to feed this information to the user and then to open the loop so that they can respond. Amazon is so good at this. But when you look at your (or your client's) product or service, think about what data may provide meaning and how you can enable that feedback loop.

Pew Internet Report | Teens + Social Media

2007-12-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

Pew Internet released another excellent research report today on teens and their use of social media. Findings include:

-39 percent of online teens share their own artistic creations online such as
artwork, photos stories, or videos
-33 percent of online teens create or work on webpages or blogs for others,
including friends, groups they belong to or school assignments
-28 percent of online teens have created their own blog, up from 19% in 2004,
and almost completely driven by the popularity of blogging among girls
-27 percent of online teens maintain their own webpage
-26 percent of online teens remix content they find online into their own
creations

Other high level take-aways: girls are more active than boys in social media, except for posting video online; and content creation is not only about creating, it's about "participating in conversations fueled by that content."

Finally, and this is not surprising, the report points out how uncool email is, with only 22 percent of respondents saying they email their friends daily. So how do they connect? Cell phones are at the top of the list, followed by texting and then instant messaging. Really, email is so 90s.

Thanks Pew for your great research!

Why RIAs are not social media

2007-12-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking this weekend about rich Internet applications in comparison to social media. Their differences would seem to be apparent, but numerous times over the last year, I have been involved in projects where RIA's are confused with social media apps. So I have to ask, why is this?

I think the main point of confusion is that RIA's are often provoking to the senses, meaning that they do a good job of stimulating visual and aural senses, and sometimes even emotional responses. This response however is only between the user and the computer. In other words, I suggest that RIA's feel social because the computer is responsible for a human response that goes beyond what, in the CHI world, is often referred to as "surgical" (meaning I'm buying a product or clicking on a button). So the thinking goes, the response feels social so it must be social media.

But what makes social media, well, social, is the feedback loop. It simply is not social media without a feedback loop. What I mean by that is that the user must be able to respond beyond a click or a laugh or a purchase. They must be able to offer input and that input must be shared with the greater community. This is not rocket science but rather a very basic tenant communications and systems theories.

The feedback loop is the key because it allows for noise in the system, and it is that noise which enables change. It is dynamic, whereas RIA's, while fun to watch, are static. The creator creates and the audience gets to watch. Where is the "social" in that? It is really no different than watching TV.

For those with a deeper interest, or perhaps those who may just be bored, here's a paper I wrote a few years ago, which offers a more academic look at feedback loops by comparing blogs to Gregory Bateson's criteria of a mental process as a circuit. Please feel free to comment, feedback is always welcome ;)

Defy the Social Media Blackout

2007-12-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

There has been a call today for a Twitterout—and some are even calling for a social media blackout. The idea is to see how productive one might be without using social media for a day.

I have two words for that idea: screw that.

I find it disturbing that my generation heeds the warnings of the less digital that the Internet is a waste of time. After spending 12 years in highly digital work spaces, I work in what I would consider a traditional work environment these days--and ad agency--and the only difference is that people waste their time in person here. For example, they hang out in each others' offices instead of IMing or spending time on facebook.

First of all, I would suggest that the concept of "wasting time" is a purely industrial one that needs to be banished along with time cards and mandatory in-office desk time. Who's to say that chatting around the office cooler, or for that matter, twittering, is wasteful? I find myself more productive when I am in contact with my people, meaning the ones who teach me and inspire me to do better work. Work is not linear, at least not for me. In this new environment, where I feel chained to my desk from 9 to 5, I find myself less inspired.

Second, the only difference between in-person and digital connections is one of choice. I call it "interest space," meaning that I form more meaningful connections via the web since I can connect with people I want to connect with. Here at the office, I have a small pool of which more forced interactions. That's not to say I don't find many of the people I work with brilliant, it's just to say that I don't have a choice.

So that's my take on a Twitterout or a social media blackout or whatever it may be. While we're at it let's ban rock-n-roll and books, and how about electricity.

Oh, and to join to blackout just go to facebook, oh wait, I think that's banned.