13 June 2006
Let’s Be Friends
Social internet is nothing new. I remember back in the late 80s logging in to a weird little text box on my boyfriend’s homemade computer and having a hesitant, typewritten conversation with a bunch of computer science guys at UCSC. Ah, IRC.
Things have changed a lot since those days. The internet is no longer the domain of thick glasses and pocket protectors (I believe they call them “emo kids” now). Everyone is online, and they want you to know about it.
Friendster and MySpace jumped on the social networking bandwagon early, sure, but then del.icio.us came along and made social bookmarking ubiquitous. Flickr! did the same for photo sharing. Traveling? City Guides are so last year. Check with your friends at TripHub or TravBuddy for the up-to-date community traveling recs, complete with ratings, custom blogs and forums. (These aren’t endorsements, people; they’re examples.) Need a tutorial? Don’t just Google for it; check Pixel Groovy to see what’s gotten the most grooves. You can even share tippling recommendations on Cork’d, a new site which promises to do for wine what Flickr! did for photos.
Social web services are evolving. We no longer just want to share; we want to take credit for our contributions. We’re inviting friends and family to be part of our online community and integrating feeds of our latest recommendations into our blogs (because everyone has a blog) and letting our opinions be known about everything we can. Conversely, we’re seeking out the opinions of others before we commit to a purchase; from megasites like Amazon and Target to tiny internet boutiques, ratings and reviews are playing an increasingly crucial part in closing a sale.
The next generation of business websites needs to take the socialization of the web into account if it wants to be relevant. It’s no longer enough to include a Better Business Bureau link on an e-commerce site to let people know the business is legit; customers want and require a friendly, easy to use ratings system as well as a place to add their own reviews. An old-fashioned links page doesn’t cut it anymore; dynamic link lists say a lot more about a company’s interests and affiliations. And the sought-after linkback isn’t going to come from a modest text request; we want buttons, we want clever, gimmicky mini-apps, we want graphics and a catch-phrase (see Pixel Groovy’s “Groove This” or Ma.gnolia’s “Snap Mark” as examples).
Most of all, we want easy. Instant gratification is the hook that gets people interested; give us a quick, simple way to interact with your site and people will at least give it a try, whether it’s a subscription button or a clever bookmark or a slick product demo. It’s the same principle as kindergarten; be friendly, and people will like you. No one wants to play with the site that doesn’t play back.
Next week: Blogging, and why it’s good for business. Kind of.
