Product Discovery Sites: Does The 1% Rule Still Apply?
Not to be confused with the super rich, the one percent we’re talking about makes up the fraction of an online community that creates content. For years, we’ve observed and designed experiences for creators, contributors, and lurkers. Knowing that only a core group of any community will be those aggressively participating (while most of the others will be more comfortable engaging in subtler social gestures such as liking, voting, rating, or mere presence), we’ve managed our own expectations for brand-building and scaling these enterprises.
But having built UGC programs for years and for all types of audiences, I’ve always felt the fashion/shopper group defied this rule. And as I breeze through this list of the Five Social Curation Sites For Luxury Brands, I’m even more convinced of it.
In 2006 I worked on a little start-up that was unfortunately before its time (board members couldn’t agree on the simplicity of the offering and we couldn’t convince them that “the point” of it outweighed the other shiny objects that were so distracting back then) but it was precisely what these so-called product discovery sites are: a way to visually bookmark and broadcast your things.
For a fashion/shopping community the connection between things (wants, needs, haves or have to haves) and things you want to talk about (share) has always hinged on the ability to self-publish and broadcast, visually. It’s just been too cumbersome to do in the past.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure right now on Pinterest, for example, there is much more re-pinning (contributing) going on than original pinning (creating) but I’m convinced the Internet of Things (the connectivity/connectedness between the things in our homes and the things on the Web) is going to cause a wave of passive publishing and broadcasting that will tip the balance in favor of more creating, less lurking.
Why does this matter? Right now, pretty pictures and browsable bookmarks is the trend but it’s subtly driving a new expectation among shoppers and tastemakers. Improved on-ramps and off-ramps to these websites, means more scale and more opportunities for brands, marketers, and publishers to make useful, meaningful, long-term content-driven communities.
Meanwhile, I’m off to find a time machine so I can go back to 2006 and take some of my developer friends with me. Who’s in? This time, we’ll make millions, kids!
We Need to Set Some Human Interface Guidelines
yes and yes dbreunig:
Select Gizmodo articles from the past 3 days:
reblogged from dbreunig
On the quantified self:
Your Life as Data: The Rise of Personal Annual Reports | Mashable
Every time he drinks a cup of coffee, Dan Meyer makes a note on his phone. He does the same every time he opens a beer, turns on his TV or travels away from home. At the end of each month, he spends about three hours transferring these meticulously gathered notes into an excel spreadsheet. Meyer isn’t obsessive compulsive, he just likes data. Like an increasing number of data geeks, he uses his personal life as a project — compiling small events into a sometimes elaborate, graphic annual report each January.
reblogged from smarterplanet
reblogged from curiositycounts
Stephen Fry on Empiricism and Opining, Online and Off
This interview with @StephenFry landed in my inbox this morning, courtesy of my wonderful big brother, who consistently proves he knows me better than anyone else (myself included).
In the video, the comedian/writer/actor talks a lot about technology, namely social media, creativity, trolling and the comments section. But more importantly, he discusses people’s decision to either be at cause or effect in the world and how that articulates itself in our online and offline interactions.
I particularly love what he says about learning and the importance of questioning the validity of information. I was raised in a family that favored Socratic dialogue. As cripplingly frustrating as that was at times, I think it lead me to the field I work in and derive the most pleasure from, which is at its core a research gig. Understanding consumer or user behavior so you can make better products and experiences, requires so much more questioning than opining.
Anyway, thanks to STEPHEN FRY: WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN WHEN I WAS 18 from Peter Samuelson on Vimeo for being the first piece of long form content I encountered today.
truth. via hinternetz:
This is basically how the internet works now, and it’s wonderful: a manifesto on sharing.
reblogged from hinternetz
This. Fascinating and sort of magical.
Proving that laughter is contagious, a very happy subway car in Germany gets the giggle.
It’s worth it to stick this one out and watch it all the way through.
reblogged from discoverynews
