aplo | designing experiences

follow that house, telly, or frock

In a world of online social networks, mass mingling, and real time alerts, why do we still treat products purely like commodities? What happened to the shopping journey being an emotional experience? Instead of running around on the virtual high street looking for the best product why not sit back and have the right product come to you? Why not follow a product's life online and find out how popular it is, who likes it and who doesn't, how many people aspire to it and who would not come near it, and of course how much it costs?

more on that hopefully soon....

Domino's feel the wrath of user generated content

What happens when two staff at a pizza company decide to film a prank at work involving sticking cheese up their noses and covering salami with 'some lethal gas' and then posting it on YouTube? Firstly the video becomes an overnight success and secondly the firm's management scrambles to manage the PR disaster.  Domino's found out the hard way how social media can cause a serious PR crisis they simply did not know how to deal with. Following the popularity of the posted video and the subsequent feeling of disgust felt by millions of their customers, Domino's were quick to sack the employees involved who are now facing felony charges.

Apparently the employees involved were 'two idiots with a video camera' according to a company spokesman. Well I guess then until they got hold of a camera they were simply two idiots working for Domino's. That certainly says a lot about the culture of the company and how they feel about their employees.

Read the story on IHT for more details.

where does your food come from?

Traceability: here is a trend among some food makers and one that is backed by food connoisseurs, environmentalists, and those behind ethically produced consumables. The idea is that the distance between farmers and consumers is reduced to, well, a website away.  Stone-Buhr,  a flour manufacturer in the US is using the brand as a way of bringing together wheat producers and end consumers. Through the Find the Farmer website, Stone-Buhr flour customers can enter a code found on the flour pack and see who the wheat producer is. They can then eat their bread or cakes with a clean conscience or start a conversation with the farmers asking them question about, well, all things wheat.

This trend, which others simply call provenance, is what lies behind farmers markets and initiatives like Souk el Tayeb in Lebanon founded by Kamal Mouzawak. In a recent Monocle Weekly podcast, Kamal described what drives this need to reconnect consumers with the source of their daily meal: "food is not a commodity... food is a living item, food is something that you produce, fifty or a hundred years ago [we] used to produce eighty or a hundred per cent of our food... today you have to make many and buy food. We can not ask people to go back to their gardens, to their fields and plant again, unfortunately, but at least [we can hep then] be in touch with those who produce their food.

Read more on Stoine-Burh in the NYTimes or listen to the Monocle Weekley podcast for the interview with Kamal Mouzawak.

Vodafone buys mobile social network

The FT reports that Vodafone has bought Dutch mobile social network firm Zyb.

More soon on my own experience reviewing Zyb competitors ShoZu and Mobyko

close knit social networks, that's where the money is

I have mentioned in previous posts that social network sites are obsessed with connecting the world when all we need is to maintain and expand our existing social networks.  Recent research by Deloitte, mentioned in the Independent, examines how corporations might make money from social networking sites. It argues that social netwworking sites should reach out to older internet users and extended families or tight-knit groups, and begin charging for ‘privacy’, service that control the people who can access shared material.

How wise and how obvious. The need is there and the need is strong. For example we have recently set up a flickr account to share pictures of our daughter with family in Greece. One feature we found useful is the ability to set up albums so we can organise the pictures in meaningful groups. Flickr allows you to set up three albums for free and then charge you for creating more. Our need to maintain our close social network means that we do not mind paying for the service. I doubt I would want to pay to keep the whole world up to date, unless I had plans for world domination.

              

       

massification and personal experiences

            

 

Massification is a term used to refer to the democratisation of higher education. It refers to the fact that more and more people from less advantaged backgrounds now have access to higher education in both the developed and developing world.

In terms of the internet, massification can be used to denote the democratisation of the internet made possible by Web 2.0. While the internet is free and accessible to all, democratised by definition, access to and knowledge of producing content was restricted to those with the relevant skills. Web 2.0 has made content production and contribution available to the masses; anyone can access, use, and produce content on Wikipedia. Amazon and Trip Advisor invite us to contribute our opinions and reviews to help other users in making an informed decision. Sites like Digg even allow us to define the news headlines, bypassing traditional media.

The massification of education allows students to improve their lives and create new experiences. Personal development is more important than building a global network of new friends and colleagues, which is a side effect not the main theme. In a similar way while Web 2.0 opens a window to the world, users begin by remaining local, experimenting and building on existing relationships. Maintaining and expanding their existing social network is more important than building a global network of new friends and followers.

              

       

social networks and personal experiences

            

 

Web 2.0 has provided a platform for the general publi, for all of us to become producers of content. Technical knowledge is no longer needed to create a blog like this one, or to share your photos on flickr or set up a profile on Myspace.

Web 2.0 sites support sharing with the entire web community. The global nature of the web would make us assume the users would want to share their pictures and thoughts with the millions of others accessing those sites. Web 2.0 sites certainly carry the assumption that wider access to content creation and social networking will result in wider social networks. In other works, by contributing to a user-generated site I will be able to expand my circle of friends and acquaintances. But is this the case? Are people contributing to those sites driven by a desire to share the rest of the world, or do they simply want to share with their existing social network?

Let’s take flickr for example. It is almost impossible to upload pictures and ensure that they are only available to your friends and family. To do so each person i want to access my pictures needs to go through a lengthy registration process…. all that just to view my pictures. I believe flickr thought this is a good idea to increase its user base. Somehow I have trouble believing that my mum would first be able to register and then decide to use the service. Her needs are not to share but to view, and her needs are not supported.

This need for maintaining and supporting existing social networks was also mentioned in a recent survey published in NMA  in how young people use their mobile phones. Young users are not interested in talking or playing games with the whole world. All they want is to share and play with their friends, their existing social network. So designing for the need to maintain social networks will provide a solution that better meets user needs.