Psych your mind! IA and Social Computing Strategy (Oz-IA08)

Management & Technology

Psych your mind!Psych your mind!IAs and Social Computing StrategyIAs and Social Computing Strategy

Matthew HodgsonACT Regional-lead, Web and Information Managementg , gSMS Management & Technology

Oz-IA Sydney, September 2008

Why Cheers and not The Establishment?y

VSVS• Reputation by word of mouth • Reputation by corporate brandingReputation by word of mouth• No barriers to entry• Friendly community

p y p g• Gatekeepers• Impersonal and elitistFriendly community

• Open square bar design• Everybody knows your name

Impersonal and elitist• Private ‘nooks’• No one knows your nameEverybody knows your name No one knows your name

CHOICE Magazine = Cheers?g

• Trusted, honest, household name• Community builders• Friendly champion for consumer causesFriendly champion for consumer causes…but…G t k tiGatekeeper perception:• “I can get free information elsewhere”Online branding:• Can feel impersonal – content doesn’t Can feel impersonal content doesn t

speak with a ‘human voice’No one knows your name:No one knows your name:• Pay first in order to have a (member) relationship

Problems we all share

Fighting for relevance:• Search ranking – Google likes blogs but not my website• Competitors are interacting with users – e g CNET Competitors are interacting with users e.g. CNET,

Amazon, epinions.com – and improving their marketability and reputationand reputation

It’ lt f ki i th ‘ ld ’It’s as a result of working in the ‘old way’:• Corporate website just a reflection of printed media• Publishing processes are not responsive enough to users’

information and communications needs• Don’t know how to change

CHOICE – deciding to actg

We want:• Conversations of our own• 21st century brand21 century brand• Greater market share

K b d k • Keep members and make new ones

Implement a social computing strategy:• Understand how to interact with users with Web 2 0-style Understand how to interact with users with Web 2.0 style

tools and online communities• Create new website with new IA UXD CMS using • Create new website with new IA, UXD, CMS – using

tagging, comments, user reviews

Strategy, planning for social computinggy, p g p gForrester’s POST model for implementation

People:• Assess your audience social behaviourObjectives:Objectives:• Decide what you want to accomplishSt tStrategy:• Plan how relationships with audience will changeTechnology:• Gather requirements to decide what social technologies to useGather requirements to decide what social technologies to use

Source: Forrester, 2007

Forrester’s POST model

Benefits:• Simple

U t d th fi t t i t t h l b t • User-centred – the first step is not technology but understanding and involving people

Disadvantages:Disadvantages:• There’s more to people than overt behaviourp p• There’s more to social computing technology than

wikis or blogging softwarewikis or blogging software

OZ‐IA PISTmodelPsychology:

U d t d l ’ i l • Understand people’s social behaviour and thinking processes

.

Information Architecture:S f f ti l• Scope of functions, language,structure of information, and layout on the screen

.

Strategy:• Aims objectives and goals to build relationships online• Aims, objectives, and goals to build relationships online.

Technology:Technology:• What ‘bits’ to use for delivery?

1. Psychologyy gypeople’s thinking & behaviour

Our behaviour is controlled by needsy

Source: Wikipedia (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, 1943)

When it comes to online interaction…

• Certain needs drive our behaviour more than others

Source: M Hodgson, 2007

But what about the environment?

Personal + group = influence decisiong p

Source: M Hodgson, 2007

Decision isn’t instant – it takes time

Source: Transtheoretical Model of Change. Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983; Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross, 1992; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997

Assessing adoption thinking & behaviourg p g

Issue – CHOICE wanted to know:• Would members decide to use social computing tools?• Would increased interaction result in more members?Would increased interaction result in more members?• How to implement social computing tools successfully?

Solution – CHOICE did user research:• Thinking: benefits of CHOICE• Behaviour: experiences with CHOICE Behaviour: experiences with CHOICE • Relationships: benefits of membership, would perception

change if social computing tools were introduced?change if social computing tools were introduced?

Archetypes in traditional mediayp

Six archetypes of social computingyp p g

33%33%

19% 13%19%

15%19%

52%Source: Forrester Research, 2008

A look at member personasp

Born: ChicagoLives: BostonWife: VeraWife: VeraBest-friend: Cliff ClavinCareer: Accountant (soon to be unemployed)Social behaviour: Collector (jokes)(j )Membership attitudes: Trust

Born: BostonLives: Boston (with his mother)Wife: NoneBest-friend: Norm PetersonCareer: PostmanSocial behaviour: Critic (commenter)Member attitudes: Trust

Who do you trust?y

Source: Edelman, 2008

How do you build trust?y

Trust, membership and communities, p

During Preparation phase:g p p• Trust is a pre-requisite leading into Contemplation

I fl d i i t d t d j i• Influences decision to adopt and join

Build trust in online environments by:• Giving opportunities to interact – meeting ‘role’ needs• Establishing identity – ie. “he’s like me!”Establishing identity ie. he s like me!• Building reputation – consistency of content from

thauthors

But trust is not the end … I trust I trust them

I think like I interact with There’s still a final I think like them … but

I’m not

I interact with them … but I’m

not a

There s still a final decision to be made in the Contemplation

formally one of them

full memberin the Contemplation phase

Cognitive dissonanceg

I behave like a I behave like a member

…but I’m not a member

Cognitive dissonanceg

I must formalise myI must formalise myinvolvement and commit … or …

Actions for IAs

Generating cognitive dissonance is the key to the decision.

Promote identification:Sh b fil th lik !• Show member profiles – they are like me!

• Guest profiles – reinforce that they’re not a memberEncourage interaction prior to Contemplation stage:• Make it easy to interact – build reputationMake it easy to interact build reputationBuild trust:

R i f i t f t t & i t ti ti• Reinforce consistency of content & interaction over timeActing on Contemplation (behaviour):• Make it easy to join (or run away … unlike Facebook!)

2 Information2. Information ArchitectureArchitecture

ti th f t i t f creating the perfect environment for cognitive dissonanceg

Roles, content & interaction needs,

Our designs need to take account of:g• Roles & behaviour, language, information structure

and presentation influencing Contemplationand presentation influencing Contemplation• Creator – I want to make content• Joiner – I want to join a group

Critic I want to comment and trackback• Critic – I want to comment and trackback• Collector – I want lots of tags, lots of pagesg p g• Spectator – Just watching the action for now

I ti E ti th t t hil• Inactive – Entice them to stay a while

Facebook v MySpace – group‐dynamicsy p g p y• Facebook has quicker uptake – clearer group membership

Amazon – identification• I should buy what people like me buy!

What other What other people are

buying

What other people are

thinking

What other people are

doingdoing

What other lpeople are

saying

Ninemsn – meeting ‘Collector’ needsgWhat message does this say to

Sending it to

does this say to Joiners and Collectors?

Sending it to other people,

friends, communities

Flickr – meeting ‘Joiner’ needsgHe’s a Pro and

he ‘thinks’

Amateur

like me!

photographer

‘Professional’ photographer

= Joiner

Human interaction --

just click on myjust click on my image!

Toshiba – ‘Creator’ and ‘Critic’ needs

Why write a review when

there’s no community here to listen to what you have to say?

Where are h j ithe joiner

needs met?

Epinions – ‘Joiners’, ‘Creators’ and ‘C iti ’ d ‘S t t ’‘Critics’ and ‘Spectators’

No ‘corporate-line’, just people like me

An invitation to participate for p p

Joiners

Identity

Answering “What’s in it

for me”for me

CHOICE – Identification, ‘Critic’, and‘Collector’ needs‘Collector’ needsBuilding trust

What other people are g

with the author

saying

How people like to classify the

article

CHOICE – Identification, ‘Critic’ needs ,What other people are

sayingsaying

Id titIdentity: people who

think like me

CHOICE – Identification, ‘Critics’, ‘Collectors’ needs‘Collectors’ needs

What other people are

sayingsaying

Share with How other Share with other

people

people think about the

article

Share your thoughts with g

this community

IA reinforce relationshipsp

My blog page(s)

All my comments

Content page Profile page

My intersections with other

communitiesAll my articles

Personal profiles are criticalp

Benefits:Benefits:• Information is no longer faceless, anonymous

E t bli h dibilit d ti l t ti• Establishes credibility and articulate expertise• Builds trust – easier to trust people than a machinep p• Builds community – for members and non-members

Disadvantages:• Some authors would rather remain hidden (using a

ghost writer can avoid this though)g g )• Some chaos? – need good governance and rules

Actions for IAs

Widgetize everything! Big ideas, little components:g y g g , p

Thi ki i th thi ki f C iti J i t • Thinking: give the thinking of Critics, Joiners, etc, a predominant place in the interface

• Behaviour: promote interaction (prior to contemplation stage) between the user and others contemplation stage) between the user and others, between user and the content

• Relationships: show the relationships between users and users, users and content , and content , ,with like-content

3. Strategygyinside and outside the walls

Components of a strategyp gy

Aims:• Articulate what do we want to doG lGoals:• What’s the change we want to engender – thinking, g g g,

behaviour, and/or relationships?How will we do it how do we get there?• How will we do it, how do we get there?

• Over what time period?pObjectives:

H ill k h t th ?• How will we know when we get there?

CHOICE – Inside the walls

Aims:• Move from print to modern online model• Utilise social computing as a vehicle for organisational Utilise social computing as a vehicle for organisational

changeGoals: Goals: • Change in thinking – value ‘normal people’ (vs researcher)

i d treviews and comments• Behavioural change – changes to business processes• Relationship change – start to generate ‘conversations’ with

external audiences

CHOICE – acting on the strategyg gy

COMMUNICUNICATION

NICATIONCOMMUN CHOICE Staff

CA

TIO

N

Website userMagazinereader

CO

MM

UN

ICCOMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION

Consumer

Wh l M d lCh i M d l Wheel ModelChain Model

CHOICE – acting on the strategy (cont)g gy ( )

Content creation: • Governance model - move to decentralised

St li t b ttl k d i f ti • Streamline to remove bottlenecks and information gatekeepers

Blog internally: Get people used to what will happen externally• Get people used to what will happen externally

Build online communities: • Experiment with YouTube and Flickr accounts for

projectsprojects

CHOICE – Outside the walls

Aims:• Improve face of online businessAff t h i thi kiAffect a change in thinking:• CHOICE as a relevant 21st century brandyBehavioural change in users:• Active interaction with CHOICE, rather than passiveRelationship change:Relationship change:• Community building• Personal one-to-one communications

Putting IA into the strategyg gy

Requires us to identify how we’re going to change:q y g g g• Thinking: identification, to join (or not to join)

B h i j i t ll t t• Behaviour: join, create, collect, comment• Relationships: create between individuals and with p

groups, associations, identifying ‘friends’.

In order to meet:P l i l d• Personal social needs

• Group social needs – social cohesion and normsp

Strategy results – objectives to aim forgy j

Traffic:Traffic:• 50% of blogs generate 75% web traffic for corporate

sitesMedia exposure:Media exposure:• 59% of blogs generate journalist contact• 53% of journalist contacts become journalist

publicationsp

Source: Backbone Media, 2005

4. Technologygylet there be widgety-things!

Web technology has maturedgy

• Web is no longer a reflection of print counterpartg p p• Barrier to end-user participation has dropped (again)

W ’ t t h l• We’ve got new technology:– Web 2.0 frameworks– Blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, social messaging and

more!more!• Old technology:

N tti th i l ti t ff i th l !– Now putting the social computing stuff in there also!• Enabler of human interaction:

– Some people will use this tool, but some won’t

Web 2.0 framework

Source: www.futureexploration.net

Actions for IAs

Think broader:Think broader:• Social computing strategy technology ≠ wikis,

blogs Twitter etcblogs, Twitter, etcThink deeper:• More lower-level than off-the-shelf software• Web apps that deliver the IA widgetsWeb apps that deliver the IA widgetsTechnology alignment:

M t h h l IA d t t ith th i ht • Match psychology, IA and strategy with the right technology components

Conclusionswhere do we go from here…?

Social computing strategiesp g g

Only truly effective if:y y• Take account of people’s behaviour and thinkingU th f t tUses these factors to:• Determine aims, goals and strategy – plan on how it , g gy p

all evolves from pre-contemplation into actionInfluence thinking behaviour and relationships • Influence thinking, behaviour and relationships –decisions to adopt social computing tools, interact with other people on our websites

• Help manage internal and external changeHelp manage internal and external change

Its more than radical trust & wikis

Psychology:y gy• Know the psychology of trust – thinking and behaviour• Understand the power of cognitive dissonancep gIA:• Align widget-style components with persona/role interaction g g y p p

needsStrategy:• Determine aims, goals and strategy – plan on how it all

evolves from pre-contemplation into actionT h lTechnology:• The right tool for the right job – not just throwing-up blogs

and wikisand wikis

Take home messagesg

To architect great online environments:To architect great online environments:• Be strategic – think and act PIST• Leverage psychology theory and IA best-practice• Use personas to understand and articulate roles’ • Use personas to understand and articulate roles

interaction preferences, thinking and behaviour• Create Opera Houses that are more than just Opera

Houses

The ultimate goal …g

Online since 2008

www.cheers.com

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Management & Technology

Psych your mind!Psych your mind!IAs and Social Computing Strategy

Management & Technology

Matthew HodgsonACT Regional-lead, Web and Information ManagementACT Regional lead, Web and Information Management

SMS Management & Technology

Blog: magia3e.wordpress.comg g pTwitter: magia3e

Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/magia3eSlideshare: www.slideshare.net/magia3e

Email: mhodgson@smsmt.comEmail: mhodgson@smsmt.comMobile: 0404 006695