Bokardo » The Opaque Value Problem (or, Why do people use Twitter?)
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added 2007 Sat Jun 23 7:00:00 by unknown user
In a larger sense, this opaque value problem affects most social software. Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, most social software is built around providing personalized, socially-focused conversation. It?s person-centered and as a result is difficult for anybody but that person to really appreciate: the value becomes opaque in this way. This problem has an interesting affect on design as well. For those designers who refuse to find ways to fight this problem, designing social software is going to be very difficult. They won?t be able to put themselves into a position of someone who wants to keep up to date with their social network, which is something that all of these sites are doing. Instead, they?ll focus on designing things that have an obvious benefit for everyone?which means that they?ll probably have more competition as well. It?s precisely because of the opaque value problem that services like Twitter come out of nowhere?in an unpredictable way?to really catch people?s attention.
In a larger sense, this opaque value problem affects most social software. Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, most social software is built around providing personalized, socially-focused conversation. It?s person-centered and as a result is difficult for anybody but that person to really appreciate: the value becomes opaque in this way. This problem has an interesting affect on design as well. For those designers who refuse to find ways to fight this problem, designing social software is going to be very difficult. They won?t be able to put themselves into a position of someone who wants to keep up to date with their social network, which is something that all of these sites are doing. Instead, they?ll focus on designing things that have an obvious benefit for everyone?which means that they?ll probably have more competition as well. It?s precisely because of the opaque value problem that services like Twitter come out of nowhere?in an unpredictable way?to really catch people?s attention.
