We design our own social experiences.
Hey, guess what. Social networking and media is a hot topic. What? You already knew that? Well shit…
So maybe it’s not big news. But the rate at which new apps and services built around social networking in one way or another are being released other hasn’t slowed much, if at all.
Being a designer, I tend to come across a lot of posts, tweets, etc about these apps as they’re in their early releases. And often I’m tempted to try them out, see what they do, how they’ve been designed and built. Creators have gotten the hang of making signup simple and so it can be really easy to find myself with accounts on more services than I can count or keep track of.
For a little while now I’ve been thinking about all these things I’m signed up for and how they tout how great they are, how they allow you to connect and keep in touch and know what’s going on with friends and family and random strangers. You can know what some is listening to, what they’re eating, when they got to sleep, when they wake up, and even when they take care of certain bodily functions.
Who cares?
In the tech industry there’s a certain amount of social pressure to be a part of all these. To see what kind of experience their creators have tried to make for us.
Here’s the thing though, aren’t we in control of our own experiences? Even though there are these phenomenally talented and creative teams out there crafting these “amazing” social experiences for us, in the end, don’t we get to design our own?
Think about all the apps and services you’re signed up for, and ask what kind of value they provide for you. If they don’t have value, why are we using them? What problems are they really solving for us? Here’s a look at some of the services I’ve used most recently and how they faired when I asked myself what value they were bringing to my life.
And please note that this isn’t meant to be a critique of these apps and services or their design. It is simply my personal review of their impact and place in my life.
I use this daily. For me right now, it’s a keeper. I’ve been able to make so many great connections, including some very important friendships and the connections that helped me land my sweet gig with Mad*Pow.
There are some big downsides to Twitter though, one of which is if you aren’t careful, you can fool yourself into thinking that many of the connections you make are deeper than they really are. And that those people are there for you all the time. Some connections may be, but many won’t, and often you can feel like you’re just talking to a wall.
Another big downside that I’ve been seeing more and more is the mistake in thinking that Twitter can facilitate meaningful conversations and debates. It’s very hard to do these things with a 140 character limit and blind conversational exchanges.
For a while this one was just fun to play with. The design is pretty well thought out. The filters are nice. But it wasn’t adding a ton of value for me.
That is, until I loosened up on who I was following and started to follow artists I’d never met or heard of before, people who I came across just by looking in the News tab under “Following”.
Now I’ve got a steady stream of amazing art and work-in-progress photos to look at. It’s like a never-ending feed of inspiration and I love it.
Untapped
I love beer. I’m not going to lie. It is absolutely one of my favorite things on the planet. An app for connecting with other beer lovers? Sure, I’ll give it a try.
It’s a nice app. The design is pretty solid. But I’m finding that I’m not getting a ton of value out of it. The connections haven’t meant much to me, there aren’t a whole lot of social interactions going on.
The best thing this app has done for me is to serve as a log for the beers I’ve tried and what I’ve thought of them. I keep it around for that, though I know there are tools available that are more focused on just that use case. Maybe someday I’ll switch to one of them instead.
I’ve gone back and forth on this one over the years. Initially it allowed me to reconnect with a lot of people I hadn’t talked to or seen in a long time. But most of those connections have died out again, maybe for the same reasons they died in the first place.
The biggest benefit I’ve seen from Facebook came this past year when I created a page for my illustration work. It’s been a decent avenue for connecting to an audience that I probably wouldn’t have reached otherwise.
Google+
I’ll admit I haven’t used it much at all, but that’s largely because I can’t find a reason to. The people I’m connected to there are almost all connected to me on other networks.
It feels to me like an alternative to Facebook, but I haven’t found a reason to need an alternative. I haven’t yet found anything in Google+ that gives me a significant value over anything else I’m already using.
The one thing I like most about it though is Hangouts, which is the best video chat/conferencing tool I’ve ever used. But my need for that is rare. I keep my account, but I rarely use it.
Foursquare
I tried this one out purely on social pressure. I go get a cup of coffee, I can log that I’m at the coffee shop and post it for all to see. I go to the mall, logged. And I rack up points for some sort of competition, win badges, and can see where my “friends” are.
But is there value? Not for me personally.
This type of thing hasn’t changed my relationships with anyone. And it hasn’t improved my life. I know that some businesses offer rewards for check-ins, most often to the “mayor” but I don’t visit many places often enough to become the mayor.
So for me, Foursquare (and all of the other check-in services i’ve tried) don’t have any value, and so I rarely ever use it.
Path
One of the newer kids on the block. I’ll say right off the bat, that the design is gorgeous. I love what they’ve done, but again, I’m not finding anything new to give me value I don’t already get elsewhere. It just feels like another Facebook alternative. And for me, the beauty of the app isn’t enough to keep me going with it. I’ll leave my account there, but I probably won’t be using it much, if at all.
So that’s 7 apps/services, made by 7 teams, all working to create these social experiences for us. And like I said earlier, it’s easy to get in the mindset of having to be present and using each one.
But what value does that provide you with? How does it make you’re life better?
You are in control of the social experiences you have. You can design them by choosing what services you use. You can decide to get out and meet people face to face and have lengthy, meaningful debates that aren’t impeded upon by character limits. You can choose to make real friends, keep people as acquaintances, whatever.
Maybe I’m late to the party on this. Many of you reading are probably saying “No shit Adam, you dumbass.” But I do think there are people that forget this kind of stuff. I know at one point I did, and I’ll probably do it again sometime in the future.
Look at what you’re using. How is it really benefiting you, really making your life better than it would be if you weren’t using it?
