welterweightUX

People love social media for its shrinking abilities. It helps them feel in the know. And to be part of that know.

Foursquare is obviously a great example of this—it tells you where someone is at a given moment. Great! If you’re feeling social.

But people rarely talk about using tools like Foursquare to avoid social situations.

How to avoid people socially
Truth be told, I’ve done this. (Have you?) Maybe it has something to do with living in a city like Milwaukee. It’s not small, but small enough that you’re apt to run into someone you know anytime you leave the house.

Foursquare just exacerbates this.

Say you want to drink a cup coffee quietly, while reading a book. On your way to  the coffee shop, someone you know has checks in there.

Crap.

But at the same time, not so crap.

Knowing they’re there helps you plan somewhere else to go in advance, so you don’t have to be swayed away from the alone time you’ve committed yourself to.

The good with the good
Technology hasn’t destroyed the social fabric. There are many ways that it’s closed massive gaps for people who share common interests. Awesome.

Only total weirdos want to always be an active part of what’s going on. Normal people need to turn inward often and reflect. Quiet our minds. Set shit straight. Be alone!

Social media can aid this.

Same media, different contexts
We need to apply different contexts to how we use social media.

• If you’re feeling like being part of things, use it to help you become part.
• If you’re just not up to facing people, use so you don’t have to become part.

Pretty magical, eh?

Yesterday, Comet Branding hosted the PR & Social Media Summit here in Milwaukee. My job is not focused on social—I went was to get a deeper sense of how social media and user experience (UX) overlap and what one can learn from the other.

Community is not all-encompassing
Have you heard this before? “We need to make this UI so easy to use, my 80 year old grandma can use it.”

Nonesense. How often would your 80 year old grandma really use what you’re designing? Maybe sometimes, but not often.

The goal shoul dbe to identify and research who actually is going to use your product. Then, design around their expectations, not everyone’s expectations. Set your sights at the ceiling, not the stars.

We should always strip things back to their core and make them insanely usable. But while doing this, we need to remember that we’re angling for a niche, not hugging the whole world.

Amber Naslund from Radian 6 mirrored this in the social sphere. Companies, she said, often make the mistake of thinking they MUST be absolutely everywhere— Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

The truth is that your community probably isn’t everywhere. Maybe they’re still only on MySpace (whaaa?). So be it. Focus your energy on nurturing them. Don’t stress about coddling the masses on other networks who don’t give a shit about what you’re saying.

Strategic experimentation
George Wright, formerly of Will It Blend, soon of Traeger Grills, said something very…um…obvious, but pithy: Things are only obvious after they’ve been done.

UX is not about having concrete answers. It’s essentially about 3 things:

• Identifying problems
• Looking at them from all angles
• Offering up a solution

Sure the solution may tank in the real word (even if it’s been vetted through user testing). Big deal. Mistakes are awesome tools for helping you avoid mistakes next time.

We shouldn’t be conservative. Ever. Sure, we need to stick to some tried and true principals. But they always need to be put twirled and whirled until they fit into the proper context.

Have a well-reasoned idea? Try it out. Tweak it. See if that works better. The real answer to any problem you/your users have may be miles off from your first approach. Keep trying until you dig up the obviousness that was there all along.

More, more, moooore!
I’m just scratching the surface of what I learned. Frankly, there’s slim chance you’ve even read this far. But! If you want hear more about what I learned, get in touch. I’d be happy to fill you in.

Also, the presenters’ decks are on Slideshare, if you want to make your own connections.

Thanks to Comet Branding & Lightburn & Marquette & everyone else who made the event happen.