Joshua Porter
April 8 9:00AM
Today's Information Architecture is not complete without a social strategy.
Just as we learned to integrate search form day one, now we consider
user-generated content, commenting, viral mechanisms and social network
integration as integral parts of the web apps we build. This workshop will take
you through the critical process of determining what social mechanics you need
for a successful web strategy, and how to measure and refine them once they are
live.
In this workshop we will cover:
• Understanding Social Architecture: what factors do you consider as you
design? How do you design something your users will ultimately create?
• Business/Data Driven Design: how do you translate core business strategy
into social metrics you measure over time?
• Selecting your features and approach: what is the basic functionality to
make a social environment?What features match which business and user goals?
• Testing and Metrics: How do you determine success? What makes a good AB
test? How do you fine-tune your viral levers?
The workshop is a blend of short, focused talks and hands-on exercises to put
the ideas quickly into practice. The first section covers the psychology of
social websites, including applying game mechanics to non-gaming sites. We then
cover the range of functionality you can use, and do a short exercise on
creating a social strategy. The second section is about the pragmatic design of
social functionality, and includes the use of the AOF (Activity,
Object,function) model to design the behavior of the website. We’ll also look
at bad actors, and how to promote desired behavior, using real-world examples
of designs that did it right (and wrong). Next, we’ll cover viral mechanisms,
and how you allow your product to market itself through the harnessing of
existing passionate customers. Finally we’ll discuss the metrics that matter
to designers, and how to learn from tools like AB testing, cohort analysis, and
other data-driven methods to improve and refine your design over time.
This workshop will tie design directly to business strategy and metrics, an
important connection that must be made in an increasingly competitive online
environment.