Discuss
Topics
Building Social Applications
Stowe Boyd, the /Messenger of /Message, /Message
Track: Web 2.0 Fundamentals
Date: Sunday, April 15
Time: 9:30am
- 12:30pm
Location: 2008
networking, file sharing, instant messaging, and blogs, to name only
the most well-known—creating applications that foster social
interaction is hard. It is altogether too easy to approach application
development from an information management mindset and miss the greater
social context: people interacting to accomplish personal aims,
exploring their identity through social groups, and working in online
marketplaces.
It is these three contexts—personal, group, and market – that form
three complementary and distinct tiers of social applications. Users
may opt to use an application for very personal reasons – signing up
for a web filing sharing service to transfer a file to a colleague –
but they become consistent users, and invite others to use the
application, because of the social dimension: how well does the
application support the users’ needs for social integration?
Effective social applications bring people into the foreground
by making the social dimension intuitive and natural, and integrating
information flow into the social. Information architecture must take a
back seat to social architecture.
The workshop explores the principles of successful social
applications, and presents a Social Architecture approach to model
new—or remodel existing—applications. Examples of well-designed and
successful social applications—including Flickr, Last.fm, Facebook, and
Upcoming.org – are explored in the search for general characteristics
and recurring design motifs. A number of badly designed sites are
contrasted with “well-socialized” alternatives.
The workshop includes two group activities to explore the application of the approach in small team settings.
Looks like a good one. Knowing Stowe it should beyond the "add an invite your friends" link to your site you normally see.
Stowe Boyd
Nice questions from audience.
How do you keep old users engaged without scaring off new users.
"It was blogging what done this to me"
No '12 step plan'
Intended to 'shape culture', not improve.
Social = me first
Individual is the new group.
IM - interruptive collaboration.
(just got net access up)
Profiles - Facebook - expression of identity.
"Swarmth" - wisdom of the crowd prescribed to someones identity.
Some other nice stuff...
The buddy list is the centre of a social application. It's all about who your friends are.
Twitter is good for permanent nomads.
Teenagers see email as a tool for parents; an older generation.
What do to think about in building social applications. Me, Mine and Market.
Me = Satisfy a need someone has. I want to use an app to do something useful first.
Mine = To keep users move to what I care about - people, connections etc
Market = Have an exchange that builds value - swap CDs, discuss something, share information
Big talk on tagging. Let it go free but it's ok to give it a little push.......
"User generated content sucks as a term"
They're not users.
They are not just generating.
And content is boring.
It's art.
My term People Created Art!
Stowe on Stage (skitch'd pic)
Stowe is checking his twitters while on stage - nice.
Stowe is saying good things for Tangler. Basecamp - no common page
which shows all of my conversations. "I had 16 pages and 16 logins....."
Can't share between discussions.
Can't do that in Tangler well enough right now - must turn up the Tangle.
Exercises;
1. what apps do you like and what is the social value?
2. What is the 'market'?
B
A social iTunes?
Why are calendars so hard.
Social browsing.
