UIEtips Article: Common Pitfalls of Social Web Applications, Part II
UIEtips 7/31/07: Common Pitfalls of Social Web Applications, Part II
This week, UIE turns 19 years old. Over the years, we’ve seen technology come and go, features grow and shrink, and interaction styles dramatically change.
What used to be just a person interacting with a screen has become something more — people interacting with other people, using the computer as a moderator. This has enhanced e-commerce (as seen by Amazon’s reviews), brought families and communities together (with tools like Flickr’s photo sharing and commenting), and enabled new ways to keep in touch with people important to us (as with Facebook and MySpace.)
As with the development of any system, it’s easy to focus on the mechanics of making the technology work. Just allowing people to add reviews or establish connections is the first step.
Yet, perfecting the mechanics won’t get you a service that delights the users. That has to come from something more. Something that takes into account how people interact with each other and how businesses can thrive on that interaction.
In today’s UIEtips, Josh Porter gives us the continuation of his analysis of the common pitfalls of building social web applications. Josh has done a fabulous job looking at what it takes to survive in this new world.
Are you implementing social web applications into your designs? Have you encountered any of these pitfalls? If so, what you have you done to avoid them? Join the discussion below about this week’s topic below.
This is Josh’s last article as a member of User Interface Engineering, as he has recently left the team to start his own business, Bokardo Design. Over the last 5 years, Josh has contributed tons to our thinking on Search, e-commerce, web apps, and developing social applications. He’s been responsible for our site design, the e-commerce application that funds our research and events, and our blog. Most importantly, he’s been part of the life-blood of what makes UIE what it is. We won’t be the same without him.
Just because Josh is leaving our offices doesn’t mean he’s leaving our life. UIE will be one of his first clients, as he continues to help us with the design of our site. However, he now has the opportunity to help other organizations with their sites. (You can contact him at [email protected] if you’d like to see if he could help your organization.) He’ll also be presenting at the upcoming UI12 conference and as part of our upcoming podcasts. It’s likely you’ll hear more of his thoughts in UIE Virtual Seminars and articles. Of course, you can follow his thinking on his blog, Bokardo.