Dorothy Poon.com

The Social Web: It’s not about the tools.

4 February 2009 13 Comments

Here are the XKCD folks, being witty as usual.

There are 1000 applications being developed out there on the web. Which are the necessary ones? The ones that improve productivity? The ones that improve connectivity? These are the few stringent criteria that I put any application through before deciding whether to continue using it or not. One cannot be switching to a new tool that does everything but brush your teeth for you, each time developers release a new application.

Most university libraries have an insanely complex and comprehensive search system in place to trawl through databases and journals. I have yet to see one that is truly user friendly, fully utilized, and does not require some “training” of some sort. What is the point of all that power in the features of a tool, if no one understands how to harness it?

I believe most of the social media “tools” are self taught. No one really has the time to read through an 80 page instruction manual. Like my sad experience with Joomla, which touted itself as easy to set up but surely wasn’t. On the web, intuition rules. If people find the learning curve too steep, chances are, the application will not fly.

Remember, it’s not about the tools. It’s about the people. Ending off with this quote-worthy paragraph:

“The thing is about the new technologies is not that they provide new, more efficient – better targeted or more relevant – messaging opportunities for businesses to exploit, but rather that it connects people to each other and that allows us to see each other (which you will hopefully remember allows us to emulate and thus drives the spread of behaviours and ideas).”

Tags: toolssocialmedia people community productivity learning technology connecting

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13 Comments »

claudia said:

tools are there to help us create a better system for our own needs. for people like us (the gen-y) we want to try new things and see if that new tool helps improve our life/needs. if it doesn’t or we just couldn’t figure out how to get it going, we give up and move on to the next tool.

for anyone out there who’s developing a new tool or system, its impt to put themselves into the shoes of normal users. but many failed to see that. they build their tool for ppl like them. who are savvy enough to create their own tools. that’s why normal ppl like ermm… my mum or my non-online friends, they just refuse to even take a look at it.

ok… hmm… i dont know if my thoughts was coherent or not. been flooded with work whole day and now i’m jus ranting on and on… lol.

# 4 February 2009 at 1:43 am

Daryl Tay said:

Totally not about the tools. Something people don’t seem to understand is that the usage of the tools for engagement/community/conversations/etc is not new. We’ve always been doing it, albeit with different tools. The new tools make it easier and do it in a way that makes it seem like it’s different, but really it’s not. Today the tool is Twitter, tomorrow it could easily be something else, but the end result of connecting isn’t any different.

# 4 February 2009 at 1:49 am

DK said:

I always wonder who uses those complex search system in libraries.

# 4 February 2009 at 1:50 am

Dorothy (author) said:

@claudia: I think I get it. Basically you’re saying that developers, the super high level coders, create applications that only they themselves can understand and use? haha! And…that they should try to put themselves into the perspectives of the typical user who may not have that level of expertise to fully utilize the tools?

@Daryl: That is so true. At the crux of this whole issue is communication and connection, something as old as word of mouth (which is what people have been arguing that the entire social web phenomenon is built on?) simply works, and still works, no matter what form it assumes.

@DK: Students like us use them!!! haha. Especially poor social science students with mountains of readings!

# 4 February 2009 at 2:18 am

LT said:

Whether you’re in software development, marketing or any other trade that looks to influence human cognition and behaviour, the principles are, as I see it, similar enough.

Pitch your product/service as a really easy means to a really important end. Then fulfill that promise.

# 4 February 2009 at 3:26 am

Dorothy (author) said:

@LT: I suppose as humans we operate on the same fundamental needs. Some tout it as finding the “pain” that people have, and then pitching what you have to offer as a solution to that pain. And of course, like you mentioned, delivering what you promised is crucial in winning trust.

# 4 February 2009 at 8:45 pm

ssumin said:

Agreed that the tools should be more intuitive to use – download and off we go! As the cliche goes, we’re the MTV generation with zero attention timespan.

# 4 February 2009 at 10:35 pm

Dorothy (author) said:

@ssumin: I suppose with all the tools out there, we are also spoilt for choice! Most nowadays expect things to work with a single click (or the least effort)..if this application does not do the job, another one will.

# 4 February 2009 at 11:33 pm

zhaowei said:

The problem with the databases in the library is that no single company owns the rights to all the journals! So we end up having to scour through the lot to find what we really need… Tough luck eh?

But then again, can you imagine how people did their research last time, when there were no electronic databases? Haha.

# 17 February 2009 at 9:17 pm

arzhou (adrian) said:

My “job” centers around trawling for journals so I know the pain. But it takes a while to get used to it and once you know what you want to get it really helps.

# 2 March 2009 at 2:44 pm

Dorothy (author) said:

@ZW:I’d imagine alot of physical flipping of pages!

@Arzhou:I guess as with any database, once you’re familiar with it, finding what you require gets that much to it. But I’m thinking that social web tools don’t have this luxury as if it’s hard to “get” intuitively, people will not bother to really find out how to work it. They’ll probably find something that’s easier to understand.

# 2 March 2009 at 6:53 pm

Sasha said:

I love the cartoon at the top —

It’s not how many tools you have, it’s how you use them is my thinking when it comes to all things social media and alike.

… and yes, they are self-taught.

One of the most important things, at least I have found in talking to people who don’t understand social media, is that if you don’t want to put in the time to learn, you simply will not.

It’s not something that just comes to you and just as everything else it takes patience.

I mean just because you can read doesn’t mean you’re going to read every single book out there.

You pick and choose and get your “quality of life” out of the ones you prefer and pertain to you.

The thing is to be organized and take it step by step — else social media will consume you, you’ll close your mind and hate it.

# 24 May 2009 at 11:06 pm

Dorothy (author) said:

Hi Sasha, thanks for dropping by! I totally agree the if you want to learn about social media, there’s no better way than getting your feet wet. What most people don’t realize is that it is fundamentally about relationships, and that means time and effort. Here’s a great post from Mashable about how to simplify your social media routine… and not get overwhelmed by it all. http://mashable.com/2009/05/14/social-media-routine/