danah boyd’s talk at web2expo overflows w/ insights! I don’t care what others said about her presentation. Ok, I wasn’t there, but even if she wasn’t at her best, and if she just read her presentation, I think if you really paid some attention, you’d still appreciate it very much.
I guess it’s kinda relevant to ‘Stimulation’, one of the four core issues she highlighted. What we focus our attention on isn’t necessarily the best information or content. Sure, presentation skills are important in conveying the message, but I do think we are all too impatient and focus too much on speed and packaging rather than content. Insight has to be eye-candy, too for most people to start payng attention. This might be the internet era, but the age-old issue still persists: we judge too quickly based on what we immediately perceive without trying to look deeper or LISTEN first.
Below is an overview of the 4 core issues of info flow in a networked society, which form part of danah boyd’s presentation, “Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media”:
1. Democratisation – democratising certain types of access isn’t equivalent to democratising attention. It doesn’t mean that you can get your voice heard that everyone will listen. Attention is brokered by many factors other than accessibility.
2. Stimulation – attention isn’t always given to the ‘best’ content but to the most ‘emotional’. eg. gossip, violence, sex. Over-stimulation can lead to a numbing or desensitation of society, and thus disconnection, which of course goes against the principles and values of networks.
3. Homophily – we connect to those most like us, but with this connection comes an innate exclusion of those least like us. On one hand we’re building tribes, but also we’re excluding other world views. This can potentially stunt the growth and expansion of our doxa.
4. Power - networked structures of consumption are also configured by power. In a distribution-focused mdoel, access is power. But in a network, access alone isn’t power. Command of attention/traffic, influence gives rise to power of info-brokers, not just to the content creators.
2. Stimulation – attention isn’t always given to the ‘best’ content but to the most ‘emotional’. eg. gossip, violence, sex. Over-stimulation can lead to a numbing or desensitation of society, and thus disconnection, which of course goes against the principles and values of networks.
3. Homophily – we connect to those most like us, but with this connection comes an innate exclusion of those least like us. On one hand we’re building tribes, but also we’re excluding other world views. This can potentially stunt the growth and expansion of our doxa.
4. Power - networked structures of consumption are also configured by power. In a distribution-focused mdoel, access is power. But in a network, access alone isn’t power. Command of attention/traffic, influence gives rise to power of info-brokers, not just to the content creators.
Filed under: Digital worlds, Ideas, Social / online media analysis, attention streams, info flow, network, social networks, social web
September 25, 2009 • 11:57 am 0
Comments take center stage with Google SideWiki
Most of you have probably been in a conversation with clients or colleagues where they profess to like the concept of user reviews and comments but don’t want to enable that for their websites for fear of negative responses. You then say that the users are already talking about your brand anyway whether you approve of it or not, and that it’s better to join the conversation (whether positive or negative) then to simply ignore it. Well, with Google SideWiki, users will be able to comment on any page of your site whether you like it or not. Heck, even your competitors can join in. With Google sharing the API for this, who knows what other type of content will be developed.
Google SideWiki, “…allows you to contribute helpful information next to any webpage. Google Sidewiki appears as a browser sidebar, where you can read and write entries along the side of the page.”
Comments has become increasingly dynamic as an online social discourse. It’s something that has taken place in the back alley, but has evolved to become a charged terrain in the social web landscape. This is where the lively and passionate discussions take place, and in many occassions, has taken a life of its own than what the original article, question or proposition intended. The coming of J-S Echo (which turns static pages into live streams of comments, tweets, diggs and more) and Google SideWiki are examples of comments asserting its place in the foreground of the social web landscape.
What does this mean for users? A shift of a large part of website ownership from soley corporations/organisations to consumers. The ability to leave useful information for the next user to find; to affirm or challenge any product / brand proposition; to make the content of your site richer; to direct the conversation according to what’s important for them. Naturally, not every user will leave relevant comments. Jeremiah Owyang advices Google to make sure that content created in this sidebar “… look more like Wikipedia than YouTube comments.”
What does this mean for corporations? Less control over the message of you site. You say one thing and users might say the opposite. Or they can agree and verify your claims and raise your trustworthiness levels. They can go on and discuss by themselves and help each other out if your site doesn’t provide the info that they need (thereby excluding you in the conversation). Competitors might even contradict you directly or offer alternatives linking to their own sites. Your site will change to become less of a coporate / company website and more of a social conversation platform for questions, feedback, and ideas. Will you be a co-owner of this new social platform?
Take-away
1. Doing the basics right is more important than ever. Users don’t only have the option to talk about you on their blogs or tweets, but they can take their opinions right to your doorstep and into your home. So make sure you have the usability and design basics right like logical info structure and clear user journeys, interesting content, good design, a clear proposition.
2. Whereas conversations have turned outward from your website with the proliferation of social tools, the SideWiki may potentially be one way of getting you back in the centre of these conversations. To leverage this potential, you need solid social strategy.
The need to develop social strategy is now more important than ever. It was never about the tools to begin with, but the impact of these social technologies on your organisation. Coversations will take place right inside your homes. How can you be the perfect host? How can you listen attentively, surface relevant points, take negative comments in stride, present your side of the story, win the crowd’s favour or at the very least, make them listen to what you’re saying? Your organisation needs to be prepared to accomodate this change: to have the means to converse, aggregate this kind of content, anlayse it, feed it back to your product/service life cycles, and act on it.
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Filed under: Digital worlds, Ideas, Social / online media analysis, comments, google, social web, strategy