Designing Social Interfaces

Chapter 11. Watson, Come Quick!

The great secret of succeeding in conversation is to admire little, to hear much; always to distrust our own reason, and sometimes that of our friends; never to pretend to wit, but to make that of others appear as much as possibly we can; to hearken.

—Benjamin Franklin

There are several different types of communication that can be utilized among users, and these should be considered when putting together the tools for enabling a social site. Each has its strengths and its specific kind of behaviors.

One-to-many, or broadcast, communications—blogs, video blogs, microblogs—offer users the opportunity to author and publish. The author is presenting her opinion about something, an article read, new music to hear, thoughts about a specific topic, or recent activity status. There is no expectation of conversation, but adding comments and tools such as Twitter replies creates an opportunity for indirect conversations to take place.

Many-to-many communications—message boards and forums, listservs, chat—allow multiple people to discuss multiple topics, usually bound by a parent topic. Anyone can start a conversation, and everyone can read it and participate. These are often public, but listservs generally require membership to participate.

One-to-one communication—instant messages, Twitter direct messages, Skype—provides communication between two people (or a small group), usually in real time and often in private.

Meaning-Making Machines

Grandma Powazek once told ...