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[GUEST POST] Listening & the pattern

Author: Laura
October 14, 2008

Dan Rockwell is a User Experience Researcher at Lextant.

[BACK STORY: I met Dan at BarCamp Ohio and started following him on Twitter. Then I started listening to his soundbytes on Utterli. One of his messages really resonated with me, and I asked him to guest post here on the topic of "getting" social media. Thanks, Dan!]

Anyone who’s watched a few hundred movies (like we’ve all done) knows that feeling of “oh yeah, I know what’s happening…” It’s that twinge of you “guessed it;” you know what’s going to happen next. You’ve seen the pattern, you’ve added it up. You feel a bit smug a first. Sometimes you look to see if anyone else figured it out. It’s a natural thing really and, lets face it, we love that feeling of “oh yes, we get it”.

For anyone following the buzz around social media these days, that feeling is like a constant hum your head, a subtle but noticeable nudge that you, yes, you,.. you get it. Sad part is, it’s often hard to share that joy of seeing the pattern in social media with folks on the outside of it. Folks that don’t get it. You’re right back in that movie theater, trying to convince a friend that in that one scene where the bad guy does X, you knew that was going to happen. Of course if they didn’t get that subtle nudge, that trace of the pattern that you got, well, here comes the debate. At this point, you can’t really win; after all it’s just a movie. However, with social media, you just can’t afford to lose. It’s far too important.

At first, I thought I was a bit crazy. I started seeing all kinds of interconnected events unfolding, small at first, larger over time. Patterns unfolding in my head. Naturally, I’m more drawn to folks that get the same nudge I get over social media. My “ah ha’s” resonate better with them. They get it too; there’s less resistance to the big idea and more of an open embracing arm gesture to bring it on. We iterate on ideas faster, all thinking in the same vein of sharing, learning, expressing, embracing, interconnecting and more.

But then there’s all those folks I know on the sidelines, looking at me as if I’m nuts. It’s understandable at times. It looks like a massive waste of time, all this twittering, blogging, social networking, social bookmarking, media creation, vlogging, super poking?!–for what, what’s the big “ah ah?” Folks on the outside of social media see time loss, that’s the biggest blank in their heads. They need to understand the real value of why are you doing it, because right now, all they see is time… disappearing.

The first mistake you can make when attempting to get a friend or co-worker to see the pattern is to threaten them with weight of it. I call this the “warning;” it never works and it’s a sure fire way to demotivate someone. Giving someone the “this will happen, you can’t escape it!!” mentality never works, you’ve seriously dropped the ball. In general if you back anyone up against a wall they will resist you to no end and logic goes out the window. So you can’t force someone to see what you see–you have to go back to that movie setting. What would the hero do? Well, a smart hero would do his/her research and find connections between your friend and the “ah ha” pattern.

You’ve got to make a bridge over into their world. Find a point where their life could be just a tad bit more interesting if they knew about the pattern. Then jump on that bit and show them how it could really benefit them.

You need to tap into what I call “universal truths,” whereby the pattern of social media helps all. We hear one of these truths all the time right now in social media marketing. Listening is a universal truth. You really can’t go wrong with listening. Today, everyone, and I mean everyone, is connected to the web is some way. Our lives, kids’ lives, businesses, products, markets, you name it, it’s all connected there on the web. You can go for a broad inquiry and collect a ton of data, or you can scale down to see the finer bits in between.

Once you get a taste for listening to the web, the hive mind of the planet connected by a billion bits of fiber, you can start asking it questions. Using tools like Google Insight Trends, Search Twitter or blog search tools, you can veer away from the beaten path of marketing speak buried in websites and plow into the mind of your customer.

So, big deal? Well the big deal is that people are in the system. Tap into the hive, think with it, and you’ll find it. Google is just the start really, the first place you go. If you want more real time knowledge, you go to Twitter or a blog search engine and start getting closer to the source.

Now you’re probably thinking, “oh man, this is work, I’ve already got a job.” Well, wrong again. Social media is smarter than that. The hive mind continually iterates itself and RSS is about the coolest thing fueling that hive mind. TweetBeep uses RSS to bring your twitter to you. Stop visiting 5 to 10 blogs a day and visit one with Google Reader and RSS. Subscribe to what you’re interested in, and it all comes to you.

Listening is very powerful. You start to eavesdrop on a 1000 conversations online. Who are all these people talking about…? Oh that person is reading the same book I’m reading, hey they do what I do, go to the same places I go, wait a sec that guy is from Brazil and he’s into what I’m into. Physical barriers are gone, this isn’t plain jane website exploration…you’re in the hive now–learn, absorb, see the pattern, iterate.

Once you start listening you’re ready for the next step–participation. Then you can roll into validation and tracking, one of my favorite aspects of the web. It’s all recordable, traceable, you can see your net effect online. Did an idea resonate, did a concept stick, change, iterate, improve, try again, all within half the time you’d think.

You have to listen, somehow. Odds are you’re doing it now, but you just haven’t leveraged the web and the hive chatter isn’t part of your iteration process. You may still add it up over time, but a little more data couldn’t hurt. Of course even the researcher in me debates that concept a tad. If you’re all about a vision, you must follow that vision, if you want more ideas, go get more ideas, and that means ya gotta listen.

Start listening, and start seeing the pattern. You’ll benefit and it won’t cost you any more time than you spend wondering what people are thinking with traditional methods.

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The sins of library web sites

Author: Laura
August 13, 2008

Ah, Twitter is a wonderful thing.  I asked members of the Twitterverse to catalog the problems of library web sites, and my followers (as friends on Twitter are called) did not disappoint.  I got responses not only from both library and non-library folks, but even a bit of international participation with a comment or two from Australia.

Here’s a sample of much of what I received:

  • “Nonsensical links to products by name. Bookletters, EBSCO, iBistro.”
  • “Branch hours/locations not easy to find from the library home page.”
  • Having to…”scroll waaay down to bottom to find search box and then was Title(not keyword).”
  • “Animated gifs and blinking text.”
  • “Focus on library materials and facilities, rather than how people use our materials and facilities.”
  • “Acronyms.”
  • “No site search.  C’mon, time to leave 1998.”
  • “Hiding your staff and/or hiding ways (or not providing them at all) to contact staff through the web site.”
  • “Library jargon: what the heck is a ‘electronic reference database’ to the layperson?”

I saw at least one major theme here:  many libraries don’t have sites that are intended for the end user.  Too many library sites are designed around the perceived needs of library staff, rather than for their patrons.  I encourage every library to take a good, hard look at their public-facing web site(s) and ask the question “Who is this really for?”

Here’s some additional sins I’ll add to the list:

  • Can’t find the address and/or phone number for at least the main branch on the front page.
  • Too much text on the front page.  Don’t put the whole 3-paragraph story there; just a teaser.  People scan the web; they don’t read.  When I see too much text, I’m outta there.

What other problems with library web sites do you commonly see?  Share’em in the comments!

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Time to join the Twitterverse

Author: Laura
May 19, 2008

Twitter logo There are seemingly a million Web 2.0 applications out there. You wouldn’t believe how many are popping up daily–just add Mashable to your RSS reader (you’ve got one, right??) to keep up with the latest. Twitter started out as one of the masses, but since 2007 has risen to the top as one of the most popular . Twitter has often been called “microblogging” or even “instant messaging on crack.” Neither one really explains what it is.

I have often told the story of how I got started with Twitter, but I’ll repeat it here. When I first took a look at it in early 2007, I honestly thought it was the dumbest thing I’d ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of web apps! All it does is ask you to answer the question “What are you doing?” You can answer this question at any time you feel like it. But you’ve only got 140 characters or less. I saw this and thought “What’s the point? Someone, who is wiser than I, told me to stick with it and I’d get it. Because I respected their opinion, I did “stick with it,” although with great reservation. And I’m glad I did…because now I “get it” and I’m here to pass what I learned on to you.

First, and perhaps most importantly, what Twitter can do for you and/or your library is not immediately apparent. It’s not promoted in a way that makes it easy to grasp. But Twitter allows you to send short messages to lots of people at one time–in a way that the end user chooses. Users (or “followers,” in Twitter usage), can choose to receive your “tweets” (messages) either via the Twitter web site, instant messaging, browser plug-ins, desktop applications, RSS or even–hold on to your hats here–cell phones (and this is why there is the 140 character limit on tweets–most cells don’t take more than that). We are increasingly aware that providing information via mobile devices is becoming a required component of web services. Here’s an easy, free way to send info to people who follow you/your library. Maybe they will follow using an RSS feed. Maybe on their cell phones. You’ll never know. But that doesn’t matter; what really matters is that the person has a choice, and that choice includes enough options to not leave even the most gadget-happy behind.

Two libraries are using this to their advantage in Ohio; Cleveland Public Library and Westerville Public Library. You can also check out OPLIN’s Twitter feed or my own. What are libraries doing? Using Twitter for public relations and promotion. Got an event coming up? Remind people using Twitter. Just be sure that you’re promoting your Twitter account outside of Twitter, just like you promote your library’s blog, Flickr account or whatnot. People who want to follow your library will need to have a Twitter account of their own to do so; also easy, also free, and chances are good that you will discover quickly that people are already out there on Twitter who are patrons of your library.

So…what are you doing?

(And here’s the Common Craft video to help out)

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