Assignment: Howard 43-79
Even though the chapter on remuneration was long in Howard's book Design To Thrive, I found it very interesting and informative. Comparing search engines is a perfect example of how user experience will either keep people coming back or drive them away. Websites that are both easy to use and pretty to look at will do better than those with lots of words and hard-to-find information. I think Facebook has done a great job with remuneration. I'm thinking back to around 2005, 2006 when I first joined Facebook and comparing it with today's version. Completely different. But the programmers made little changes over the years to get it where it was today so that people didn't get confused or lose interest when their friends list was located in a different place. Facebook also informed users and guided them through the changes, keeping the user experience as positive as possible.
The next section discusses what remuneration is specifically. As mentioned throughout the book, it is the psychological or emotional gratification that brings people back to an online community. When Howard advises website programmers to give users an "incentive," he does not mean financially. However, a great deal of companies have a main focus on their business model and revenue stream. Mark Zuckerberg became so famous initially because he didn't focus on making money; he was interested in creating a website that his peers would be interested in and therefore provide "a positive return on their investment of time and energy." He had no idea that his idea would end up being a worldwide revolution.
The remainder of this chapter talks about a checklist of techniques to use when creating a social network that will provide remuneration and a positive user experience. Some are obvious (make the text editor fun) while some not so obvious and interesting points to consider. For example, discourage attempts to send conversations to other blogs, Web sites, or discussion groups. Thinking about it, this is a smart idea, but I wouldn't have thought of it on my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment