Yesterday, I [somewhat] objectively made a set of 10 predictions I expect to see over 2009’s course. However, what I expect and what I’d like to see are two very different things, so I thought I’d complement yesterday’s list with a wishlist of my own. Here are five things I think would contribute to social media’s value for myself and others.
#1: More automation.
We’re getting there with devices like the Eye-Fi card and the upcoming Fitbit, but we can do even better: I want to see services and technology that limit the time I’m required to actively spend uploading, sharing, and tagging content. I don’t ever want to see a Flickr upload screen again, choose tags for my online video, manually share my location on Brightkite, and so forth. If it can be digitally “outsourced,” I want that option. That’s why services like Tagcow appealed to me so greatly when they first emerged– I want to be able to spend more time creating and discussing great content than preparing and labeling it for the Web.
#2: Fewer options.
In a way, I’m fortunate that the tech economy is forcing companies to rethink their strategies and limiting the number of new startups because, as far as I’m concerned, there are much too many similar services in the same space. Take a look at FriendFeed’s supported import list, for instance– most web users probably only know a quarter of the items on that list. I don’t like this because the more spread out users are over different sites, the more effort I need to go to to engage with those users. If you wanted to visit all of your old college friends, for instance, you’d have to spend weeks traveling across the corners of the globe to meet up with all of them. The way users are scattered all over the net mirrors this difficulty, it doesn’t solve it, and it’s time for this to change.
#3: Ubiquitous location awareness.
With the improvements in Web-ready mobile phones, this might be what I’m most eager for: every social media service we know and love to be deeply integrated with physical location and GPS. I want to be able to walk into a restaurant, drycleaner, or bar, and instantly know (without having to search, etc.) what my friends and contacts think about that location, how many times they’ve been there, and if they’re on the premises as I check. Assuming they opt in, of course, I want to know where my good buddies are on campus so that we can make plans to meet up if we discover we’re near each other. I think location is the next frontier of the social web, and I am dying to see it evolve.
#4: More behavioral research within social media companies.
As a social scientist in training, this one’s personal: I want to see some scientific research and careful survey analysis driving development and tuning of social media technologies. It’s unfortunate that the once-generous venture capital used to back many of these companies goes only to programmers, engineers, and designers– with such a significant human component to many of these services, it’s surprising to me that no one explores the human aspects of these sites in development. What our intuitions tell us users would prefer is not always reality, and this should be reflected by a growing adoption of more serious scientific rigor.
#5: Improved accessibility, ease of use, and marketing.
To the early adopter set, Twitter is old news. Trying to get my friends and family on such a service, though, is often like pulling teeth. No one in my community that I interact with on a regular basis has read up on Twitter as much as I have, so if anyone could talk people into joining these services, it should be me, right? It’s unfortunately quite rare that I meet success in getting new users to join. I would like to see an increased effort by social media companies to market their products to all users, not just those that go on to blog or Tweet or FriendFeed about them (which means, of course, that these messages fall on the ears of the proverbial choir, not the congregation). Help me get you more users, social media companies, please! It’ll help you in the long run.
To wrap this up, I just want to point out a common theme among these items here: simplification. As I wrote at the beginning of the month, there’s just too much clutter and noise out there today. I want a new set of tools that help me deal with this big mess. Will 2009 bring these tools, or will it bring additional complications? I’ve turned into quite the social media cynic over the last few weeks– New Year, please, reverse this trend!
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3 Comments
Andy,
That’s a challenging list you put together. Enhanced simplicity with more features! I see a common thread here though. Many automatic advancements, like having one’s phone update Brightkite automatically, are a marketers dream, add value to the user experience but at the same time strike fear in the hearts of those who are concerned for their privacy.
Doing the rigorous type of surveying you suggest can help to pinpoint those fears and other issues that make the mainstream hesitant to leap into the fray. This in turn can guide us in marketing the various services.
As of now, we (all of us with more profiles than we can count) are really beta-testers. We’re playing with the toys and discovering what works before the mainstream jumps into the deep end. But I wonder if we skew development.
The other day I was working on a project and ended up going through the list of Clevelanders (via Twellow) using Twitter. In looking at the profiles there were a lot of Web and computer workers, a number of media people, a fair share of artists, crafters and musicians then a smattering of more diverse folk.
These people are finding uses for Twitter Facebook, etc. but I wonder if our needs and usage are different than the mainstream. Are the features we want indicative of what the public at large will want? Or are we looking for feature sets that appeal more specifically to our nerdier demographic?
Like you I struggle to get people onto these services. I got a few onto Pownce, many are on Facebook but they’re still really shy of Twitter. Actually I have a friend who is still hesitant about Facebook and LinkedIn. I think if we want services to market to the mainstream, we need to educate the mainstream. We need to show them the value of the services, offer simple tutorials (like the Common Craft Plain English series) and assuage their fears that life on line invades their privacy.
Hehe, you do have a point there, Heidi– perhaps this list should have come before the holiday season since I may be asking the impossible! I think we would do well to ask those tough questions you enumerate, but bottom line, I just want to see these services more engaging and user-friendly, and I can’t imagine that the public at large’s wishes would differ from mine too far on that note.
That’s funny, I was thinking of the Plain English series, too, as I wrote this– what a fantastic set of videos. I bet if we could figure out how to provide a similarly beneficial bit of perspective, our pals would really appreciate it. It’s no question that services like Twitter offer true value in my life; heck, if Twitter didn’t exist, I might have sat home alone on New Year’s Eve!
Thanks for the great thoughts!
The old method of advertising is interactive marketing. The term is misleading. Most people think it means that there is some type of interaction on the part of the person advertised to, and there is. But, it is not conversational. Instead, the advertiser wants you to interact with their campaign in a specific set of steps. Following the call to action and visiting a website for instance. It’s the push to make you do something. Live this image. Buy this now.
Social Media Marketing is just the opposite. It’s the pull of the tribe. The tribe already has your trust so the actions they take are ones you align with. On a larger scale, it’s the allure of belonging in the group as you take action together. “I am doing this so why don’t you do it with me?” On an individual level, the attraction is to behave the same way to get the same results that benefits your fellow tribeswoman or tribesman. “She looks hot! I want to look hot too. I want to go to her hairstylist” and you do. Social Media Marketing uses the power of attraction.
While advertising tries to use the same tactic, with a billboard for instance, of a gorgeous woman telling you the benefits of the salon, it doesn’t have the same impact because it’s pushing you to go. It is not pulling you in as a trusted friend. Your friends have your best interests at heart and advertisers do not. Social Media Marketing is based on building trust and that foundation will make Social Media a dominant player in Marketing.
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