Designing the Social
Much of social media is designed within the context of its own use. Once they’re established and populated, we redesign applications incrementally. We do this in part to avoid upsetting conventions and practices that have taken hold, and also because wholesale redesigns of social tools can be impractical or even counter-productive. Application design and architecture become limiting factors and shape many design considerations.
But if we approach social design from the perspective of what users are good at, we might be better able to think outside our own box.
Goals and rewards – Consider the kinds of goals you might set within your social application and the rewards that may be earned by users who reach them. These might be personal goals and rewards, like game levels, tasks, challenges, or points. Or social goals and rewards, resulting in status, ranking, visibility, lists, features and spotlighting members.
Moods and feelings – Give expressive users ways in which to communicate their moods and feelings. For example, emoticons and gifts, or icons to be used and exchanged with friends or attached to messages and content. These small gestures, while small, can be curiously compelling.
Knowledge and learning – For users interested in research, information, bookmarking, and more search and browse-related activities, provide ways to share discoveries. Capture those learned moments and make them visible — perhaps surface and validate experts and top contributors.
Giving and receiving – For users who enjoy social transactions provide gifts and a means of passing them around privately and publicly. Gifting is a highly social form of communication, and besides being kind, engages a sense of reciprocity in most of us. So it’s naturally contagious.
Helping and assisting – Some users are just naturally good at paying attention to others, and enjoy helping and assisting those with needs or questions. Design ways to surface these needs and create channels by which helpers can pitch in.
Reviewing, recommending, and rating – Users equipped with opinions and a sense of taste can make valuable reviewers and recommenders. Design ways to capture their contributions as social content. This can be designed then into lists, favorite, trends, news and more.
Asking and answering – In a world of search, there are still many occasions when users want to ask questions and get personal answers. And in a world of search results, there are those who enjoy sharing their knowledge, expertise, and help. But questions disappear if they are not captured and paid attention to.
Announcing and sharing – There are users so on top of news that furnishing them with means to announce their discoveries makes for an easy and effective way to keep social content fresh and interaction active. Topical organization, along with trends, help users sort and filter what’s relevant to them.
These suggestions may seem obvious and familiar, but in the context of a particular social service the manner in which they will scale socially will be unique. Unique to the site’s population, and unique to its existing activities and social practices.
Adrian Chan, a Senior Fellow at SNCR.Org - the Society for New Communications Research - writes about why we should look at user motivations, needs, and competencies when designing anything that is social.
I think this is perhaps one of the few articles in social media that actually made sense. With all the "buzz" and talk about digital word-of-mouth being the "most effective medium of all", this - and Mr. Chan's entries in his blog, http://gravity7.com/blog/media - are amongst the few that make sense.
He accepts the fact - and the reality - that social media research is a difficult endeavor (as opposed to traditional-thinkers who seek to look "social-media" savvy by asking questions on 'how influential are recommendations from friends and from professionals when buying this/that' to supposedly justify the use of word-of-mouth in their communications plans).
What I do like about this current entry is that his guidelines (if we can call them that) are not only applicable in the digital setting. It is applicable to non-digital, real-world, grassroots social media settings.
The over-the-fence and chitchat whilst mowing the lawn social interactions between two neighbors.
Two office colleagues trapped in an elevator talking about their weekends and their experiences with their car.
Two friends talking about a certain TV program.
Two people talking about how bad the waiting time is - and how rude attendants are - whilst waiting in line.
[If it is not yet apparent... I believe that social media is not just limited to the digital medium. Social media is perhaps the oldest medium - it has been called rumors, gossip, chitchat... It's only now that we are sitting up when "social media" is mentioned, because finally, technology has caught up with an innate human phenomenon.]
