What can we learn from Social Interaction Design

1
What can we learn from Social Interaction Design?

• NewComm Forum 2009
• Adrian Chan, SNCR Sr Fellow
• twitter gravity7
• http//www.gravity7.com

2
Goals

• Why social media are different
• How they work
• What they create and produce
• Who uses them
• Users care so should we

3
Overview

• Background
• What is social interaction design?
• The topsy-turvy world of social media
• Competencies of users
• Personas 2.0? Or personalities?
• Practices and applications
• Illustrations

4
Background

• Theoretical influences sociology, symbolic
  interactionism, transactional analysis,
  pragmatics, media theory, and systems theory
• Social interaction design shifts the focus from
  social media, and products, and interactions with
  products, to
• forms of online talk
• dynamics of mediated social interactions
• ways of presenting and relating to the Self and
  to others
• mediation of interactions and communication
• the effects of media on time and temporality,
  organization and structure of relationships and
  interactions, and
• scaling of social systems through individual user
  actions and emergent social dynamics and social
  practices

5
Background
6
Understanding Media

• Marshall McLuhan cemented the importance of a
  theory of media. He viewed media as an
  extension of the self, and as amplifying
  certain sense perceptions over others.
• Media theory reminds us not to take social media
  literally, but to bear in mind that mediation
  matters.
• The medium is the message.

7
Understanding Media

• The medium is the message. This is merely to say
  that the personal and social consequences of any
  mediumthat is, of any extension of
  ourselvesresult from the new scale that is
  introduced into our affairs by each extension of
  ourselves, or by any new technology.
• This fact, characteristic of all media, means
  that the content of any medium is always
  another medium. The content of writing is speech,
  just as the written word is the content of print,
  and print is the content of the telegraph.
• Marshall McLuhan

8
Constitution of Society

• Modern continental sociology views society as
  being non-traditional. Knowledge involves risk
  and trust, and science, money, commerce and other
  modern practices replace the traditional
  organization of relationships.
• Anthony Giddens theory of structuration argues
  that there is structure, but it is reproduced
  through individual, daily, acts.
• This insight, that we are each, every day,
  involved in creating and reproducing society
  allows us to view social media as a sort of means
  of production of ourselves, our relationships,
  and of a form of (online) society.

9
Constitution of Society

• But the fundamental question of social theory,
  as I see itthe problem of order conceived of
  in a way quite alien to Parsonss formulation
  when he coined the phraseis to explicate how the
  limitations of individual presence are
  transcended by the stretching of social
  relations across time and space.
• By disembedding I mean the lifting out of
  social relations from local contexts of
  interaction and their restructuring across
  indefinite spans of time-space.
• Anthony Giddens

10
The Presentation of Self

• Erving Goffmans pioneering work in social
  interactions is widely used to describe the
  presentation of Self in social media. His frame
  analysis of social encounters makes an enormous
  contribution to the ways in which we negotiate
  interactions.
• We have to qualify his insights and account for
  the fact that in social media we lose the face to
  face meanings and with them, the ability to
  negotiate interactions in time.
• The resulting ambiguity of intent, loss of
  context, and reduced ability to handle
  interactions with more than words creates
  opportunities, and perils, for online
  interaction.

11
The Presentation of Self

• Statements orient listeners to the upcoming
  responses, to what has come up.
• We look simply to see, see others looking, see
  we are seen looking, and soon become knowing and
  skilled in regard to the evidential uses made of
  the appearance of looking.
• What, then, is talk viewed interactionally? It
  is an example of that arrangement by which
  individuals come together and sustain matters
  having a ratified, joint, current, and running
  claim upon attention, a claim which lodges them
  together on some sort of intersubjectve, mental
  world. Erving Goffman

12
Communicative Action

• Jürgen Habermas theory of communication
  distinguishes between communicative action
  (authentic) and strategic action (instrumental).
• The former binds us to one another in a process
  of reaching understanding. The latter involves
  communication used to achieve results talk
  oriented to getting something done.
• The former is a model for friendship, the latter
  a model for commercial media use.
• His emphasis on intersubjectivity in
  communication is a core insight for social media
  users talking to users.

13
Communicative Action

• Thus, the illocutionary force of an acceptable
  speech act consists in the fact that it can move
  a hearer to rely on the speech-act-typical
  obligations of the speaker.
• To understand an expression, however, means to
  know how one can make use of it in order to reach
  understanding with someone about something.
• Interaction mediated through acts of reaching
  understanding exhibits both a richer and a more
  restrictive structure than does strategic
  action.
• Jürgen Habermas

14
Games People Play

• Eric Bernes transactional analysis, while
  somewhat dated, provides key insights into the
  emotional and attention economy of talk. His
  theory that talk and interaction are a way of
  giving and getting emotional strokes is
  valuable for what motivates some social media
  use.
• Bernes insights into crossed transactions, and
  scripts we repeat in order to sustain
  psychological dramas, may also help to explain
  some of the habits and routines that can make
  social media compelling to some users.

15
Games People Play

• By an extension of meaning, stroking may be
  employed colloquially to denote any act implying
  recognition of anothers presence. Hence a stroke
  may be used as the fundamental unit of social
  action. An exchange of strokes constitutes a
  transaction, which is the unit of social
  intercourse.
• To say that the bulk of social activity consists
  of playing games does not necessarily mean that
  it is mostly fun or that the parties are not
  seriously engaged in the relationship. The
  essential characteristic of human play is not
  that the emotions are spurious, but that they are
  regulated. Eric Berne

16
Social systems

• Niklas Luhmanns systems theory, while complex
  and idiosyncratic, offers valuable insights into
  the value of communication to social systems. In
  particular, his work on media can be used to
  demonstrate the ways in which mass and social
  media observe each other, create and reference
  realities, media events, and more.
• For Luhmann, all reality is sustained by the
  systems own reproduction. He, and other systems
  theorists, help to explain the feedbacks and
  self-reference of systems, both of which we can
  observe as social media audiences grow over time.

17
Social systems

• Therefore, to repeat this important point once
  more in other words, communication duplicates
  reality. It creates two versions, a yes-version
  and a no-version, and thereby compels selection.
• In the systems perception, the distinction
  between the world as it is and the world as it is
  observed becomes blurred.
• Advertising declares its motives. It refines and
  very often conceals its methods.
• Niklas Luhmann

18
What is Social Interaction Design?
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Re-framing social media

• The social interaction design approach to social
  media can help us frame our thinking about social
  media. Instead of thinking about media, or
  products, or brands, we can think instead about
• People, relationships, and meaning
• Talk, communication, and interactions
• Needs and interests of individuals, and their
  aggregation into social practices
• The importance of this shift of frame should help
  us think less about brands, images, messaging,
  and products, tools, and media
• We can make better use of conversational media
  (and design them better) if we think from the
  users and the audiences perspective.

20
Social media

• Social media are not just websites, but are
  dynamic social systems
• Their user interface is a Social Interface
• Their content is people
• Their people are contributors
• Their contributions communicate
• That communication is a form of talk
• That talk is informed by design

21
Socializing media

• Social media paradigm shift in marketing and
  advertising
• consumers participate in production and messaging
• messages have the authenticity of everyday talk
• across trusted relationships and social networks
• on the basis of their own interests and
  personalities
• Social media structure and organize talk changes
  branding, marketing, and advertising
• At stake is how markets produce and consume value
• and how consumers create that value

22
Socializing markets

• Social media cultivate culture
• Social media socialize consumption
• Social media create production
• Social media proliferate communication
• Social media network audiences
• Social media relationize connections

23
Socializing brands

• Brands shift
• from how they see themselves to how they are seen
• from what they want to say to what is being said
• from image to talk
• from the value they have created to value created
  by consumers
• from what they own to what can be owned by users

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How is SxD different?

• Social Interaction Design approaches social media
  as talk systems
• SxD shapes, informs, organizes, structures, and
  arranges this talk
• Web 2.0 designs social applications for a
  flourishing culture of new content, new
  navigation, new audiences, new relationships, new
  purposes and uses
• A shift to transactions as ongoing communication
• A shift of focus from user practices to social
  practices
• Emphasis on social practices as byproduct of
  design and informed, not controlled, by design

25
Main concepts

• Users have the ability to become self-involved
  online, and to relate through social media to
  others (mediated presence)
• Users expect future interaction (commitment)
  talk media are open states of talk
• Users have a sense of self and a (self)
  perception of how they look to others
  (validation)
• Users are motivated to share their professional
  and/or personal interests (social motivation)
• Users use social media to maintain relationships
• Users have invested confidence in the system
  (competence)

26
Interactions Social

• Conventional user interaction and user interface
  approaches address the users interaction with
  the device
• The designer designs the screen
• The interaction is User Software
• The social interaction designer also designs
  around and through the screen
• The interaction of User Software User

27
The social interface

• Three modes of the screen
• Mirror mode the screen reflects the user
• Surface mode the screen contains content
• Window mode the screen is a transparent to other
  users

28
The social paradigm

• User as a social Self
• User as self-interested and interested in others
• All activity is social (visible to some others)
• Interaction is Participation
• Participation is a form of talk
• Talk has new forms and languages
• New forms include posts, comments, reviews,
  ratings, gestures and tokens, votes, links,
  badges, video
• New forms are distributable and communicable

29
User needs interests

• Shift from task and goal-oriented transactions
  common to traditional software use.
• Non-social software users have needs
• Social media users have interests
• Social media are relational media users are
  interested social participants
• Users sustain interest in own participation
• The users psychological interests include
  acknowledgment, recognition, membership,
  attention, respect, attraction, citation,
  compliments, pleasure, self- satisfaction,
  popularity, etc, and the avoidance of risk,
  failure, embarrassment, disappointment, etc.

30
Topsy-turvy world of social media

• The Self is always reflected
• Self is a projected Self
• Social is anti-social
• Friends, for real?
• Communication misunderstood
• Connections are disconnected
• Neither here nor there
• Discontinuous continuity
• Whats dysfunctional functions

31
The Self is always reflected

• Social media start with a representation of the
  Self, a representation through which we see
  ourselves reflected.
• We take an interest in our own reflection, and
  form beliefs around how we appear to ourselves
  and the impressions we make.
• In this reflected Self, the presence of others is
  constant, as is a sense of what we think others
  may think of us.
• Through this reflected Self we become involved in
  ourselves as much as we become involved in simply
  being ourselves.
• The self-reflected Self establishes the first
  relationship, and a psychological one, on which
  other social relationships form.
• All social relationships on social media are thus
  constructed out of a mediation of the Self a
  splitting of the Self, one self-reflected and one
  reflected in others apparent impression of us.

32
Self is a projected Self

• We are not literally online, we re-present
  ourselves online. We use online profiles, pages,
  posts, and videos to craft how we look to others,
  and more importantly, how we look to ourselves.
• Our online self is our second self its how we
  appear to constructed from a two-sided face a
  self-image and a public face.
• We relate to our self-image online
  self-reflexively. Reflection occurs in how we
  think about ourselves, the impressions we make,
  what interests others in us, and of course how we
  look.
• Social media are in many ways a personal ME-dium,
  a mini me-dia to the mass media. They are
  powerful because they allow each of us to project
  ourselves into the medium.
• Social media engage us because we see ourselves
  in them. They are especially compelling if we
  like how we appear to ourselves. Online self is
  an appearancy.

33
Social is anti-social

• When communication is not face to face we have to
  interpret other users activity, and suggest and
  signal our own, using recordings and documents
  (pictures, text, video, etc.) in place of
  facework.
• Online relationships lack much of the texture and
  presence, affectivity, and dynamics that sustain
  them in the ordinary world.
• Online social interactions are not a substitute
  for being together, and struggle to create a
  sense of shared time. Users are next to each
  other but not with one another.
• The social of social media is more accurately
  anti-social, and in some ways social media are
  failed and failing social systems.
• The shortcomings of social media interaction,
  including, ambiguities, failures, misconnections,
  and misunderstandings are nonetheless precisely
  what engages and motivates much of our activity.

34
Friends, for real?

• Relationships on social media are ambiguous and
  sometimes cheap.
• In the real world, we have relationships with
  particular people, and these are unique and
  non-transferable. Online, relationships can
  appear to be generic.
• Social media thrive on relational ambivalence and
  ambiguity, because as social beings we respond to
  both with interest.
• Relational ambiguity wants to be resolved, but as
  social beings we prefer to leave openings than
  close off possibilities.
• The ambiguity of a relationship (who likes whom,
  why, for what, in the past or in anticipation of
  a future, etc.) gets us psychologically invested.
• What online relationships mean to us is not how
  they appear to others  the blurring between
  personal and social, private and public, informs
  how we choose and engage with online connections.

35
Communication misunderstood

• Online communication is often a matter of
  interpretation and guesswork we do our best to
  get a sense of others, and to provide a sense of
  ourselves, and this may constitute a great deal
  of the personal investment we make in social
  media.
• When our intentions appear ambiguous, and our
  claims unclear, online communication social media
  becomes less a matter of reaching understanding
  with a person with what is said, but of simply
  understanding what is said.
• Social media disable the facework we use in real
  world interaction to handle our emotional care
  for other people. This only amplifies the
  ambiguity that already underlies many
  interactions.
• A great deal of online communication solicits the
  acknowledgment and response that is readily
  available in face to face interaction.
• Online communication contains both its intended
  expression or claim (when created) and a residual
  implication (residue that the author understands
  as how it will likely be interpreted).

36
Connections are disconnected

• Connectivity doesnt mean connection, at least
  not on a personal level. Connectivity today
  promises a technical solution to a social
  problem the disconnectedness of everyday
  relationships.
• Disconnectedness, isolation, and anomie have long
  been themes of modern society. Social media
  promise to restore connectedness to connections,
  presence to absence, and communication to
  silence. The idea, opportunity, and promise of
  social compel many of us to participate.
• Online connections are thin but durable. The
  medium gives us the sense of being connected,
  being there, and of being available and
  accessible this is sufficient to sustain
  participation.
• The discontinuity of connectedness online can
  create ambiguities in the ties that bind and bond
  through normal social relations.

37
Neither here nor there

• There is power in absence, a power completed by
  our own activity, through which we fill in whats
  missing online.
• The medium, by bracketing out the face and body,
  engages us in ways of supplying personal meanings
  to the activity and communication of others.
• By engaging us in what we believe is happening
  online, what is in fact absent becomes compelling
  for what matters to us, interests us, and
  resonates personally.
• The presence of online media is constructed
  around the individual psychological act of
  building anticipations and expectations.
• These expectations take the shape of personal
  habits and practices objective online
  realities emerge around internalized and
  subjective realities.
• By with-holding reality, online media give us
  reason to want more.

38
Discontinuous continuity

• Time we spend online is stitched together from
  discontinuous fragments, and each of us is on our
  own time.
• These separate timelines may intersect online but
  cannot produce a real sense of spending or
  sharing time together.
• The discontinuous temporality of online time
  prevents us from using the rhythms and pacing of
  the time we have when together with others.
• The episodic nature of time periods and stretches
  of time are likewise unavailable in social media.
  
• Social media time is an open time, missing a
  clear frame or beginning, middle, and end. Its
  open-ness is one of its strengths, and becomes a
  reason that we return to it.
• Being out of time, social media can more easily
  accompany our activities where we are, but also
  distract us from what are doing.

39
Whats dysfunctional functions

• Dysfunctional design, architecture, and features
  may increase participation. Design ambiguity can
  produce talk and social activity among users
• when our systems fail, we talk, and this talk is
  the stuff of online communication
• in talking, we create activity
• when site navigation, design, or features are
  unclear, we can invest time in figuring them out
• which creates traffic, and again, communication
  and activity
• The design goals of functional functionality and
  efficiency common to conventional software matter
  less in social media design than the use of
  dysfunctionality for the purpose of compelling
  user engagement.

40
Design distortions

• Social media need only be socially functional
  and this is possible even if they violate
  software design best practices.
• One example of the ways in which social media can
  be socially functional while being
  dysfunctional from a software design
  perspective is twitter.
• Twitter displays the users tweet in what appears
  to be a conversation stream. This creates the
  sense, or illusion, of a conversation. (Would we
  tweet if we did not see our own post on the
  page?)
• However, our own posts appear in a stream with
  those we are following, not those who follow us.
• In truth, they appear to those who follow us. The
  design is a false representation of whats
  actually going on.
• This is only one example of the different design
  practices and needs of social media.

41
Design distortions
42
Design distortions
These are tweets from users I am following. My
tweet is seen by users who follow me.
43
Competencies of users
44
Competencies of users

• Users have social skills and competencies ways
  of participating, engaging, communicating, and
  interacting.
• These competencies are met by social media,
  sometimes matching a users interests and styles
  of use, sometimes not.
• Tools may appeal to users with different
  competencies, just as user populations and social
  practices might also.
• Some users may tweet, others dont get it. Some
  wiki, some digg, some maintain LinkedIn profiles,
  some ask and answer questions, some Yelp, some do
  video and so on.
• By appreciating that users have varying
  competencies, we can focus less on needs and more
  on interests meeting those interests shapes the
  success and utility of social tools.

45
Competencies of users

• Users have interests, social skills, and
  competencies with social interaction and
  communication
• Three core user types
• Self-oriented users
• Other-oriented users
• Relationally-oriented users
• Some users relate first to the medium

46
Motives and motivation

• Users of social media are self-motivated, and
  self-interested
• in themselves and their self-image
• in others and their impressions of others
• in how they appear to others, and what others
  seem to think of them
• in relationships, interaction, and communication
  for acknowledgment and acceptance
• Users seek recognition and validation, often on
  the basis of their like-ability and desirability,
  and are sensitive to pride and shame
• User motivation is necessary for user engagement,
  sustained attention and interest, active
  participation, or even interested social
  discovery and exploration (lurking)

47
Self Interests

• Self-Interests involve how we see ourselves,
  what we think of ourselves, and what we think
  others think of us. These are represented or
  indicated on the page, and suggested in messages.
• Self-Image
• Self-Image, who I am
• is who (I think) I am, and how I see myself
• Self Reflection
• Self reflection, or what am I doing?
• is what I think of myself, how I think of myself
• Self Perception
• Self perception, or how do I look, how do I
  seem?
• is an internalized impression of how I appear to
  others

48
Interests in others

• Interests in others are what we think of
  others, their interests and who they are, but
  also what we think they think of us, and whether
  and how they might be interested in us
• Others include
• others in general (sense of an audience)
• other individuals (specific users)
• and the community identity (sense of membership)
• Others are represented, as is the user, by a
  face that expresses the users self-image
  online
• Like the user, others have interests and are
  interested
• Any interest in an other user includes the
  possibility of the other users reciprocal
  interest

49
The possibility of relationship

• What passes quickly between people in
  face-to-face situations is deferred and displaced
  online
• But where we have a clear impression of our own
  face (our self-image), we can only form an
  impression of others (applies even to those we
  know)
• appearing to be appealing, interesting, smart,
  popular, funny, cool, etc.
• Until communication begins, others are thus
  always in possible relation
• interested in us, are like us, might like us
• not interested, not like us, might not like us

50
Personalities of users
51
Why personality types?

• The diversity of social media applications
  available attracts different kinds of users,
  engaging them in different kinds of activities
  and practices.
• Personality types help us to know who the user
  is, how to reach him/her, and how he or she
  influences others.
• With personality types we can better understand
  how social media scale and evolve over time.
• These personality types are not based on research
  data but suggest ways to view social media
  through the user experience. They are a kind of
  social media-specific personas 2.0
• In contrast to market segmentation, or
  tool-specific user types (early adopter, casual
  user, etc), personality types describe ways in
  which different kinds of users become engaged
  based on and using their view of self, other, and
  relationships, and extending their social and
  communication skills and competencies.

52
Users are people

• Social media users have personalities that come
  out in how they relate to and use social media.
  Users are people. People have
• perceptions and inclinations.
• understanding and interests.
• habits and expectations.
• motivations and intentions.
• anticipation of the behavior and interests of
  others.
• self-motivated actions and a private or social
  interest in their outcomes.
• communication that varies in its honesty,
  sincerity, seriousness, presentation, and
  objective.
• relationships varying in their meaning, purpose,
  organization, and nature.
• a sense of being in time, of being together and
  with others.

53
Grouping the types

• The following is an over-simplified view of
  personality types suggested for use in the design
  and application of social media.
• Types are organized around the poles of the Self,
  the Other, and Relationships which can be used
  as a simple way of grouping the social variations
  of personality
• those types centered on the Self
  self-presentation, self-centered talk,
  self-image, and extensions of the self such as
  possessions, signs, etc.
• those types centered on the Other other-oriented
  sense of self, other-oriented talk, the others
  apparent interests in the self, and projections
  of the self onto others such as attention,
  recognition, desire, etc.
• those types centered on Relationships
  relational-oriented sense of self, relational
  (especially triangles) talk, the relationships
  state, maintenance, obligations and other
  implications for the self.

54
The personality types

• Status seeker
• Critic
• Socializer
• Em-cee
• Lurker
• Buddy
• Creator
• Pundit
• Rebel
• Officiator
• Harmonizer

55
Pundit personality

• Considers him or herself an industry leader or
  pundit, and routinely offers the latest news,
  opinions, and observations.
• Is personally interested in playing the part of
  news anchor and industry commentator even if not
  deeply interested in making news him or herself.
• May believe that he or she has a reputation, an
  audience or following, and may regularly talk to
  his or her audience in order to maintain it.
• Can be a regular and consistent participant in
  online news and publishing, driving subscriptions
  as well as capturing the attention of audiences.
• Is valuable for his or her role in distributing
  content and in creating and defining topics, as
  well as by serving as a channel for news.
• May evaluate experts and their contributions for
  their insight or expertise.

56
Pundit interests behavior

• Is critical to making the web the fastest source
  of news and commentary.
• Is self-motivated and makes the effort to sustain
  the webs role as publishing platform.
• Keeps news fresh and dynamic by making
  announcements.
• Helps to validate the claims of net journalists
  and blogosphere to legitimacy, authenticity in
  media and reporting.
• Likely has a focus the Net, industry, social,
  product, news, cause, etc and helps to advance
  it.
• Helps to build thematic and topical spaces
  online.
• Pushes and gets behind news  and sees his or her
  role as a newsmaker.
• Is more likely to be sensitive to reputations,
  credibility, and position than less serious users.

57
Status-seeker personality

• Sense of self is built on what he or she has,
  owns, and has attached to him or herself both
  material and symbolic.
• Identifies through status and status signs and
  values  and is sensitive to their social
  significance and to their effect in attracting
  interest.
• May enjoy accumulating symbolic tokens (including
  online merit badges, smilies, gifts, etc) as
  status symbols and signs of success and
  popularity.
• May or may not compete with others (friends,
  strangers, or general audience) for social rank,
  but is motivated by status he or she does.
• Believes that visible accomplishments make a good
  impression and are socially recognized and
  validated.
• Relationships can be understood in terms of
  exchange, trade, collecting, and taking
  possession of things and signs.
• Helps to invest online signs that can be counted
  and measured with social value is important to
  rivalries, economies, and exchange cultures
  online.

58
Status-seeker interests behavior

• Rank is relative Status is social Position can
  be counted.
• Pursues ways of supplementing his or her online
  stats.
• Checks own stats as well as leaderboards.
• Compares own stats to those of others.
• Accumulates friends, symbolic tokens, and other
  social status symbols.
• Is important to making the social count online.
• May tend to avoid the deep and involved chats and
  conversations that matter more to relational
  types.
• Examples
• Yelp elite
• Celebrities members on Twitter, any online
  community, etc

59
Em-cee personality

• Like the pundit, plays a role in providing news
  and attracting audiences, but is often more
  socially inclined, and often uses his/her
  personality and performance to get attention.
• Is a performer at heart, and makes an impression
  as well as engages the audience by means of wit,
  personality, and character.
• Can be more interested in capturing an audience
  than in content itself and may tactically
  attract interest in ways considered as strategic
  or disingenuous by purists.
• Is attentive and responsive to the audiences
  feedback and reception.
• Is less interested in being genuine and authentic
  than in social validation.
• Can keep an audience interested through anecdotes
  and asides not often used by the serious
  newsmaker.
• Is sensitive to what interests the audience
  because keeping and holding an audience is of
  personal importance.

60
Em-cee interests behavior

• Participates in platforms that gather audiences.
• Is significant for his or her role in moderating
  online communities, groups, discussions.
• Often makes others feel recognized and
  appreciated, and acknowledges communication.
• Attracts audiences and helps to create a social
  center of activity on applications or sites that
  facilitate them.
• Pays attention to attention.
• Likely to have an interest in tools that retool
  broadcasting online for their appeal as media
  podcasting, RSS, blogs, video, twitter, etc.

61
Critic personality

• A writer and author, interested in the substance
  and meaning of content online and not as socially
  or performance-oriented as the pundit, for whom
  an audience is a necessary feature of delivering
  content.
• May feel that audience approval is a measure of
  his/her understanding, intelligence, accuracy,
  and insight not popularity, attractiveness,
  performance, or even originality.
• Can have a valuable grasp of the multiple
  perspectives on a topic, the relevant arguments,
  opinions, and positions of others, and may be
  interested in making genre, category, and
  taxonomic distinctions.
• Believes in the information value of online media
  may prefer rational and good argument over
  time-wasting social media opportunities.
• May frequently edit and update content as much to
  eliminate inaccuracies as to keep it current
  believes in the factual version of truth.
• Contributes to the connections and associations
  of things online, and has value for long tail
  commerce.

62
Critic interests behavior

• Sees value in correcting mistakes, factual
  errors, mis-statements, etc.
• Sticks to the topic and is interested in topical
  conversations (eg blogs).
• Is important to the belief that social media can
  produce better knowledge.
• Is an important contributor, blogger, poster,
  commenter.
• Sustains the idea that social media use the right
  process.
• Tends to avoid online socializing for its own
  sake and may have fewer personal relations than
  professional friendships online.
• Takes a committed interest in permanent topical
  online discussions or publications.
• Examples
• Wikipedia.com, Imdb.com, Yelp.com
• Some social bookmarking and list-making

63
Buddy personality

• Has a strong sense of friendship and values
  companionship.
• In addition to spending time with friends online,
  and in online activities, may have ideas of
  loyalty, best friends, inner trust circles and
  the expectations that accompany them.
• Is usually aware of what friends think of
  him/her, takes notice of the presence or absence
  of friends online, and will do what friends do.
• Is familiar with the language and rituals of his
  or her friends, including ways of talking,
  insider jokes, and so on.
• Events seen through the lens of friendship and
  may derive recognition and reassurance of good
  friends, or suffer from betrayals real or
  misperceived.
• Motivated more by relationships with those he or
  she knows is genuine and tends not to do things
  for strategic reasons.
• Relationships are the content of communication,
  and online activities are a vehicle for
  sustaining relationships.

64
Buddy interests behavior

• Validates the social utility promised by large
  social networking sites that real friends use
  them.
• Tends to use social media for real event and
  activity coordination and interaction.
• Is a reason that many new users join social media
  his or her friends are there.
• Is valuable to the uses of friend networks in
  promotional, commercial, and other uses.
• Styles of friendship differ, but those who flirt,
  play, tease, and joke with friends online create
  important, if gestural, communication and
  content.
• Networking among friends draws intense interest
  from industries marginal to social media but
  which see its potential as a threat to their own
  ability to make and market messages.

65
Officiator personality

• Views situations and interactions by means of
  rules, conventions, characters, positions, or
  roles, and knows how a situation should go.
• Can wear a public face and use the behavioral
  codes and rules of a social activity in order to
  exercise authority without having to do it
  personally.
• Believes in the social value of convention,
  normative rules, obligations, and expectations
  and may pro-actively embody and play the role for
  the sake of the system, game, or situation.
• Often believes in collaboration and cooperation,
  and may presume that cooperation is a universally
  shared belief for the reason that his or her
  notion of society requires that it applies
  equally and to all.
• Can be sensitive to, suspicious and distrustful
  of people s/he believes are insincere,
  inaccessible, and private.
• Understands relationships on the basis of their
  abstract organization and meaning and may develop
  relationships according to their description
  rather than by personal and gut feel.

66
Officiator interests behavior

• Is important to social games and gaming
  applications, particularly those that involve
  roles and game rules.
• Is often the online game organizer and moderator.
• Is less concerned with the personal repercussions
  (e.g. on their friendships) of playing a
  moderating or officiating role.
• Likely to take an interest in the ritual,
  ceremony, and trappings of social games
  tokens, points, leaderboards, ranking, game
  events, etc.
• Can help to keep players in line, on task, and
  involved.
• Sustains the reality of online games, and helps
  to make them relevant to those for whom
  participation may seem a distraction or poor use
  of their time.

67
Harmonizer personality

• Appreciates group membership and a sense of
  belonging, but unlike the em-cee this
  personality is motivated by the groups
  relationships and not its value as an audience.
• Generally has a sense of where others stand in
  relation to him or herself.
• Gives good attention to others, is socially
  sensitive and responsive, and may triangulate or
  mediate group interactions.
• Pays attention the debts and obligations among
  members of a group (who is affected by whom) and
  is mindful of how group members are doing.
• Senses acknowledgment by others, or lack thereof,
  and may tend to project or read into situations
  is likely to be motivated to rescue
  relationships.
• Is less interested in anonymous publicity or
  attention from strangers than reception by
  familiar friends and colleagues.
• May do things to make others happy, including
  tasks and organizing efforts that serve a groups
  integrity and activity.

68
Harmonizer interests behavior

• Is important for their sensitivity to group
  participation and engagement, and for his or her
  efforts to keep activity going.
• Is likely to know whats going on with friends
  and colleagues, and contributes content that is
  both personal and social.
• Helps to make groups tangible, often giving them
  identities.
• Uses group communication tools and applications,
  including private social networks and
  group-oriented social applications.
• Has a sense of belonging, and of membership, in
  social media use.
• Checks in with friends and colleagues when they
  fade or drift away from group online activity.
• Will circulate tokens, gifts, files, and so on.

69
Socializer personality

• Goes online for information about friends,
  events, and social news.
• Derives a sense of well-being from online
  interactions, and believes in online community.
• Keeps track of what his/her friends are up to,
  and goes online to stay in the loop.
• Tends to participate in online social pastimes
  rather than pursuing personal projects .
• A member of the audience likely to pay attention
  when invited and notified, and not likely to miss
  being online when busy.
• Knows what people are up to, and how to find out
  if not.
• May participate as if she or he feels like an
  integrated and key member of an online community,
  but is sometimes playing along.

70
Socializer interests behavior

• Makes new friend contacts.
• Creates friendly contributions and content --
  testimonials, notes, comments, etc.
• Participates in social games and interactions.
• Is important to sustaining the pleasure of
  social networking, and is an engine of social
  interaction.
• Is important to emerging social conventions,
  rituals, ceremonies, and pastimes as well as
  their codes of conduct, etiquette, and
  subversions.
• Inclined to the social implications of ratings,
  votes, and signs and to investing them with a
  surplus of meaning.

71
Lurker personality

• Is self-effacing in his/her presence online, may
  seem shy and be sensitive to what and how people
  talk online.
• Is drawn to spending time online in part by the
  lure of the medium and the private or personal
  possibilities presented by others, abstractly or
  in reality.
• Emotional sensibilities may govern his/her
  presentation style and sense of self.
• Doesnt draw too much attention to self but may
  participate and log in consistently, creating
  site visits, traffic, and page views by browsing.
• Is often an observant participant, and may serve
  as a resource to those who spend time online.
• May subscribe to others and follow them online.

72
Lurker interests behavior

• Generates a large number of page views.
• Characterizes some of the user experience of the
  passive or non-participating user.
• May subscribe to people and content  and is thus
  a user of the non-social social media tools.
• Is more likely a user of low-impact and
  low-participation tools.
• Is possibly more likely to have initial social
  media experiences on marginal sites where
  community is not managed by early adopters.
• Is more likely to be naive about social media
  interactions and represents an important market
  and growth opportunity.
• His or her concerns about privacy, security,
  safety, authenticity, and so on represent issues
  to be addressed by social media systems, and
  which may describe the mainstream potential for
  social media.

73
Creator personality

• Creates, builds, makes, publishes.
• Relates to the online world as a place in which
  she or he has a strong presence, using it to
  distribute his or her (personal) creative works
  and efforts.
• Getting attention and receiving recognition may
  or may not be required for this users ongoing
  participation.
• Probably sees his/her online self as a real and
  valid extension of his/her real self the medium
  is neither gimmick nor waste of time.
• Provides the content that others share, pass
  around, rate, vote, and comment on.
• Has talent with the stuff of culture and can
  create or mash up meanings to produce something
  new.

74
Creator interests behavior

• Joins collaborative creative efforts that require
  belief and commitment from members.
• Is important for their content contributions to
  social media.
• Might prefer to pursue creative pastimes in
  public, or socially, rather than privately.
• Is behind the success of user-generated content
  sites and services.
• Is of significant value in re-contextualizing and
  interpreting culture.
• To some degree, benefits from users who enjoy
  finding and sharing online content gems they
  bring this user recognition.
• Often an early adopter of authoring and editing
  tools and applications.
• Might pay attention to his or her own popularity
  but if so, take it as signs of genuine interest
  (not as social byproducts).

75
Rebel personality

• A frequent heckler given to subverting the social
  situation at hand.
• May tend to disrupt online chats and discussions
  for the sake of attention.
• Uses social games and applications to undermine
  those who take it seriously, to disrupt the
  activity, to push an agenda, or game the system.
• Might focus on content, a group, or its
  individual members.
• May only become a heckler when faced with
  authority (when provoked or challenged), or may
  simply want attention from an audience,
  regardless of what its about.
• May just heckle occasionally and when annoyed, or
  might identify him/herself with being in the
  opposition.
• Might feel superior to others and enjoy showing
  off or winning, even when doing so requires
  playing along cynically or disingenuously.

76
Rebel interests behavior

• Often shows leadership in new technology
  developments.
• Important to the development of non-commercial
  social media applications.
• As a fixture of the hacker culture, contributes
  to mashups.
• His or her independence is an indirect source of
  transactions that drive online marketplaces.
• Heckler subversives interested in spoiling the
  fun of others damage the mediums reputation.
• A heckler subversive is often drawn to popular
  sites and applications.
• May contribute positively to the open web, while
  undermining organizations seeking commercial
  benefit.

77
Practices and applications
78
Practices and applications

• Conversational branding and marketing
• Participatory branding
• Personality-based engagement
• Currently working on conversation models

79
Best practices?

• Are there best practices?
• Do practices transfer?
• Do they last?
• Can they be taken out of context?
• Is there a one-size-fits-all approach for all
  brands?
• Audiences matter, and best practices that work in
  one audience may not transfer to another. Porting
  the tool or technology, the design, features, or
  techniques, doesnt guarantee the same social
  results in a different audience.
• Personalities matter, and users use social media
  according to their interests, competencies, and
  personalities. Best practices may overlook the
  users involvement.
• Context matters, and our ways of interacting in
  one context (Facebook) may not translate to our
  ways of interacting in another (LinkedIn).

80
Open vs Closed social

• Advantages and disadvantages
• open creates opportunity for public visibility
• closed preserves and protects trust and
  relationships
• page and community-based provide for lasting
  contributions
• flow and conversation-based capture speed and
  interaction
• There is bias in interaction models introduced by
  different kinds of personal, social, and public
  audience engagement. This bias may cause users to
  talk differently, and strategically, if public
  visibility and celebrity are at stake.
• Social distortion in the content results from
  bias introduced by interaction models, resulting
  in content that carries social bias. Users who
  talk to say something but to be seen saying it
  also, may be less objective, and more subjective
  and this colors the content discovered by users
  later.

81
Conversational marketing

• Shift away from brand image to audience
  reception the audience owns its perception of
  the brand
• Embrace existing conversations
• Where they are, in social media tools, and
  amongst their audiences
• Using personalities
• social skills and competencies
• preferred social tools
• authentic interests
• existing relationships
• to leverage what users care about

82
Participatory branding

• Re-frame brand view of the world to start with
  the customer
• User-centric, customer-engaged branding, for
  ongoing engagement with the many facets of a
  brand that appeal to and interest users,
  according to the interests those users already
  have.
• Re-tale-able
• Co-creative
• Multi-modal messaging for different types of
  users, and for different types of statements
• Serial and episodic over time
• Game-like, activities, embedded rewards, etc

83
Personality based

• A personality-based marketing model would target
  users not by tool, by interest, or by market
  segment, but by styles of social media use.
• Personality-based marketing would recognize that
  users get something out of their social media
  involvement. And that a user is interested in
  participating in ways that enhance self image,
  give them something to say, repeat, cite, or pass
  along. That the goal is not to move the user, but
  for the brand to be moved by the user.
• Personalities for individual benefit
• Personalities for desired content
• Personalities for interactions and activity
• Personalities for social dynamics
• Scaling social media by personalities

84
Conversation models

• I am currently looking at conversation models
  that may help the design of social media for high
  engagement, and which might be usable for
  commercial ends while not violating the primacy
  of the user experience.
• types of transactions
• types of statements
• types of social actions
• kinds of language words, gestures, acts
• routines and repetitions, habits
• relevant and usable social practices
• feed-based commerce

85
Flow applications

• Flow applications (twitter) represent the next
  stage in social conversational media, and should
  be understood as flow, not as page-based traffic.
• Twitter, status, feeds, and flow
• talk as a symbolic form
• social capital vs currency
• expenditure and influence
• social distortions
• personal, social, and public dimensions
• measurement and analytics
• visualization and twitter extensions
• twitter and search