June 13, 2007 at 16:11Thoughts I Came to at Web 2.0 Expo
- Transfer
Last week I visited the Web 2.0 Expo. I went there to learn more about good UI and web design, and came up with a few thoughts that I want to share with you.
All these are wishes for creating social networks.
1. You cannot build a community, you must grow it. Do not think that if you build it, then people will come to you. The Internet is already oversaturated with socially oriented sites, and if you want to create a successful community, you should be aware that the social aspect should be the second reason people come to your site, and not the first.
2. The biggest mistake you can make is to think that you know what your community really wants. Only they know what they want, and your job is to listen to their wishes and give them what they need.
3. Simplify the publication of content as much as possible and always reward people for their contributions.
4. Display the best and most popular content on the home page of your site. Good content not only attracts people to your site, but also inspires others to create their own (in the hope of becoming popular). Although popular is not always good, therefore, publishing content based on popularity is not always a good idea.
5. The most viable online communities follow the 80% to 20% principle. Only approximately 20% of users will create content, while the remaining 80% will consume it. It's not bad. If every person spoke, there would be no one left who would listen.
6. Each time a person comes to your site, he should try to make the site better for the next user.
7. No one is reading a manual or reference. Most game controllers have 16-18 buttons, but they are so simple that you can play the entire game without having to read the manual for it. In other words, make sure that everything on your site is intuitive.
8. Let people show their personality. If someone personalizes his profile, or sets an avatar, he will become more emotionally close to the site.
9. If you have a rating system on your site, try to reset it every month. Nobody likes the “rich gets richer” system.
All these are wishes for creating social networks.
1. You cannot build a community, you must grow it. Do not think that if you build it, then people will come to you. The Internet is already oversaturated with socially oriented sites, and if you want to create a successful community, you should be aware that the social aspect should be the second reason people come to your site, and not the first.
2. The biggest mistake you can make is to think that you know what your community really wants. Only they know what they want, and your job is to listen to their wishes and give them what they need.
3. Simplify the publication of content as much as possible and always reward people for their contributions.
4. Display the best and most popular content on the home page of your site. Good content not only attracts people to your site, but also inspires others to create their own (in the hope of becoming popular). Although popular is not always good, therefore, publishing content based on popularity is not always a good idea.
5. The most viable online communities follow the 80% to 20% principle. Only approximately 20% of users will create content, while the remaining 80% will consume it. It's not bad. If every person spoke, there would be no one left who would listen.
6. Each time a person comes to your site, he should try to make the site better for the next user.
7. No one is reading a manual or reference. Most game controllers have 16-18 buttons, but they are so simple that you can play the entire game without having to read the manual for it. In other words, make sure that everything on your site is intuitive.
8. Let people show their personality. If someone personalizes his profile, or sets an avatar, he will become more emotionally close to the site.
9. If you have a rating system on your site, try to reset it every month. Nobody likes the “rich gets richer” system.