How Are You Using {Enter Website}?
I just had this thought a few seconds ago, and I want to put it out there to see what you think.
Is it possible that a sites popularity is based off the question, “How are you using this site?”, rather than “What are other people doing (in the world)?”
When I think about my first experience with Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc. it always started off with me observing what was going on from the outside. It was definitely cool to see some of the things that people posted to their “profiles”, but ultimately what made me become a member was how I saw certain people using the site. Think about status updates from Facebook as an example:
“Joe is dropping my dry cleaning!” - I don’t really care.
“Joe wrote on Steve’s wall” - Who the hell is Steve?
“Joe posted 25 pictures to his profile” - Wait, I can get my pictures up here and everyone can see them? Maybe I’ll start doing that!
Ultimately, I think it’s a combination of both questions from above. However, I think “How are you using?” is a question that is overlooked. Some people are naturally more tech/computer savvy than others. They understand almost immediately why to use the “@” symbol in tweeting, and what “Uploading” means. But, while those are two small examples, I’d bet a lot of people don’t know whats going on when they see those features. You can make all the “cool” features in the world, but if your users don’t know they use them, whats the point? Showing your users how other users are using your site, might dramatically improve your sites popularity. What do you think?
