Connectivity and Stickiness - The Social Currency Solution
July 30th, 2008 by Dan Roberts We consult on a huge amount of web projects and increasingly they all have some sort of social Web 2.0 element. The interesting thing is that in all of them I find myself saying the same things: in any website that some sort of socialness goal they are two key factors which, without both, are essential to the success of the site: quality and social currency.
A key element in a website with social functionality is stickiness. To evaluate the stickiness of your social site answer these two questions: Why will a user stay on your website? and; Why will a user return to your site? In other words what is in it for your user?
One of the first things to think about is that there are a lot of websites in the world and for yours to not just grab users attention but to actually hold their attention needs something pretty special. You need a hook to keep your users returning again and again - and please don’t say keeping touch with friends - that’s what they are doing on Facebook and Bebo!
The answer I don’t hear enough of is “quality”. Whether that be the quality of the content, the travel planning software or even the ads being served. The quality of your sites functionality is a very important factor in retaining your visitors.
Let’s assume you do have a site that is easy to use and offers functionality that your users want, how do you grow it? By it’s nature social Web 2.0 functionality necessitates more than one person - it means people communicating with one another. It is the process of connecting your users to more users. For me achieving connectivity entails answering exactly the same questions as stickiness: why will one user tell others about your site? or; what is in it for your user?
In achieving both stickiness and connectivity I believe there is one solution - social currency! That is, the value a user perceives themselves to be for using or sharing your site. The more value a user feels they are earning by using your site the more they will return and the more value they feel they have the more likely they are to share your site with others. Moreover, if a user feels they are going to earn esteem, points, a true thank-you from others for sharing your site then the more likely they are to share your site. No one will risk recommending something that is not good - which comes back to the importance of quality of functionality.
Therefore in thinking about your new web project with that all important Web 2.0 social loop ask yourself “what is in it for your user?” Why will they use and why will they share? Make sure the first reason is because of the quality of the site; and finally devise some sort of rewards system as part of the user feedback loop of your site.
Tags: Social Networks, Web 2.0
July 30th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Great points - way back when I was a researcher at the AUT Usability Lab in 2000 - we investigated all these concepts of purpose, engagement, stickiness and flow. All of which I agree are timeless factors for successful online interaction.
In terms of stickiness - during the many tests we did with people using websites - it became apparent that there is both good and bad stickiness. And often requires further investigation.
For example you may notice that average time spent on page or site increases after a change.
Now is this because users are loving the changes and becoming really engaged?
Or because they are totally confused and can’t seem to find the information they need or get the online tool to work properly?