It's All About Community

One aspect that many websites implement is community, where users can engage with the site itself but also with each other. This is most commonly seen in social media websites, but is also seen in many other sites as well as they try to get user interaction and feedback. In the article “Community: From Little Things, Big Things Grow” by George Oates, it talks about the strategies she has learned from starting up the photo-sharing site called Flickr. She’s been excited and challenged from the users, not just from their beautiful photography, but also in how to use Flickr’s infrastructure in ways she wouldn’t have envisioned. Throughout the process, she’s come to embrace that “people will warp and stretch your site in ways you can’t predict–they’ll surprise you with their creativity and make something wonderful with what you provide.” 

One strategy she’s learned from this is to give people fewer rules to follow and people will be more creative. She saw Flickr as a playing field without any rules so that users had to figure out their own “way to play”. Many Flickr groups have sprung out based on specific areas of conversation like photography techniques or “Guess Where” groups where people try to identify where mysterious photos were taken in their town. There are no specific rules to engagement which leaves the members to interact how they like. Another plan of action for Oates in order to grow the site was communicating with members by chatting or providing public forums which allowed members to asked questions. Oates suggests hiring a community manager in order to help welcome and support a growing community. A third strategy of Oates was making Flickr feel personal. She was really focused on copy in order to make it sound human. The site design is also plain and simple so that it’s straightforward and easy to use. This also won’t take away from the main subject of the site, which are the photographs. A few other strategies Oates mentions: let users creates their own path which allows for a unique experience, allow users to chose whether to share their identity or remain anonymous, implement user “commandments” or guidelines once the site grows, allow variation for all sorts of users, and lastly be open as a designer by sharing your own content and making contacts. Social media sites are meant to be an exciting way to share about yourself so why not join in on the fun you’ve created!

I really enjoy social media sites, but I’ve always been a little apprehensive of them as well. It’s a great way to communicate quickly, to share photos and ideas, and to keep in contact with people. I just fear that social media is taking over real world, face-to-face interactions which I think are so key in communicating. I also find it can be highly distracting as I find myself drifting onto social media sites while doing my homework. I enjoy Facebook to a degree as I like staying in contact with friends from high school and family and friends that live far away. But so many people post about every little thing they do, what they’re feeling, and other things that seem to personal and probably should be shared privately. As a designer, though, I personally love design and craft sites. I’m really addicted to Pinterest, as is obvious from my 1,753 pins and 974 likes! Other sites that I’ve recently discovered and am excited to check out more are Designspiration, Image Spark, and Wookmark where there are lots of great designs to be inspired by!

-k

Oates, George. (2008). Community: From Little Things, Big Things Grow. A List Apart: For People Who Make 

          Websites, 258. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/fromlittlethings/