May 28th, 2008

Designing for the Social Web: Signs of Life

It has long been known that savvy restaurants use a bag of tricks to build buzz and interest. One trick is to seat early customers near windows so that people passing by will think the place is full. This has the effect of making the place seem popular as people usually can’t see the empty seats that are further inside the restaurant.

A second trick restaurants use is to create a line out the door so that people think there is strong demand. This is also often artificial, making us think that many people are waiting to get in. Sometimes they merely create lines by not letting people sit down, making an excuse that the empty seats are “reserved”. Other times they simply don’t let people in. This is often practiced by nightclubs, who rely even more on mystique and exclusivity than restaurants do.

These techniques leverage powerful social behavior. When people are searching for a place to eat, they rely on the behavior of others to help them make their decision. They seek out signs of life…signs that other people are present and already doing something. If they are doing it, it must be worth it, we think. Given the choice between something that nobody has chosen to do and something that many people are doing, it is human nature to gravitate to what others are doing.

On the web, signs of life are extremely important, for several reasons.

Too much choice
One reason is the sheer amount of choice we face. As the web continues its torrid growth, we simply have too many web sites to sort through, too many places to buy products from, too many software providers to pick from.
Black box of use
Another reason signs of life are important is that web applications are like black boxes. Many applications, like Google Docs, for example, require a login to use. Because of this we simply can’t see what others are doing with the software. We can’t see if they’re using it well or not using it at all.

When sites leverage signs of life well, it provides welcome direction for folks trying to make a decision. A great example of signs of life is the Freshbooks home page, which contains an interface element called “Some of our happy users…”.

The happy users element does many things well. Most importantly, it is authentic. You immediately get the sense that these are real people who actually do like the product. The pictures are decent, but not airbrushed or overly produced. The quotes sound like real people, not infomercial-like. Subtle touches like using people from all over the world and including team size add to the sense that these people are just like you: the intended audience.

In addition to these testimonials, there are many other ways to leverage signs of life. I describe several more in Designing for the Social Web. But though leveraging signs of life in your design is powerful, it must be authentic. You can’t use stock photography and made-up quotes and expect people to react positively to them…people can smell fake a mile away.

While the Freshbooks people aren’t actually standing in line outside the door of a restaurant, they might as well be. They’re having the same effect: showing others there are people here using this software…acting as signs of life on what could otherwise be a desolate home page.

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Comments ( 13 Responses so far )

1. Graham Strong on May 28th, 2008 (Comment) #

Hi Joshua,

That’s a great point. But are there other ways of showing signs of life in this Web 2.0 world? I’m thinking of the iGoogle page, for example, that changes its graphic depending on the time of day.

Perhaps you *can* design a row of windows on a website and seat some cyber-customers next to them. Or show a line-up for your services. Or some other apt visual metaphor that shows how busy the owners behind the website are…

~Graham

2. Sarah Cooper on May 28th, 2008 (Comment) #

This is a great analogy. I think this is why so many Web 2.0 sites / online communities always have a “Newest Members” section on their front page. The design of the Freshbooks members section is better though, than just the usual grid of faces - it communicates both that there are members here and that they are actually *doing things* on the site, which goes a step further in adding to its signs of life.

Regarding your reference to stock photography - I totally agree. I believe stock photography is single-handedly killing RevolutionHealth, which is a beautifully designed site with great community potential, but if you look at any of the their content pages, the stock photos make it feel stale and lifeless.

3. David on May 28th, 2008 (Comment) #

Hey Joshua,

it was great to read your article. In my country there are not enough posts like yours.

I tried to unterstand your post and I used such a structure for a landingpage. Hopefully this will result in sucess! Thanks for the advice.

Btw.: You have a good sense of style in writing professional and comprehensible articles.

Keep up the good work!

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4. Niels on May 29th, 2008 (Comment) #

Hi Josh,

I guess we people like it if we see what others are doing. It gives us a sense of trust, and by showing more and more details of the other users that trust becomes bigger; the ‘virtual’ person comes to live.

Good post.

5. Todd on May 29th, 2008 (Comment) #

Thanks for your insight Joshua. I’m in the middle of a redesign of an Admissions site for a university, and even though I want it to harness the power of the new Web, I fall back on the old ways of “brochure on the Web” - it’s post like yours that get me back on the proper path. A “Class of 2013″ section on the home page would be a neat way of showing signs of life…

6. Josh on May 29th, 2008 (Comment) #

@Sarah - eww…revolution health does have way to many stock photos…it’s just not authentic.

7. Josh on May 29th, 2008 (Comment) #

@Todd - great to hear! Yes…even admissions home pages can benefit from signs of life…I bet most web sites can.

8. JC Cameron on May 29th, 2008 (Comment) #

Great post, Josh. Clearly, we all place great value in the social behavior of others. You touched on two critical aspects that our new startup, VendorCity, is addressing…the value we place on the recommendations of others and the fact that the web has too much data but does not contain the data that best helps you make a good decision.

In a nutshell, VendorCity allows companies to gravitate towards and use the best and most highly recommended vendors in their area. All based upon the concept of ‘crowdsourcing’ where we can all benefit from the knowledge and input of others.

9. Zephyr on May 29th, 2008 (Comment) #

Call me cynical, but this could still be just cleverly *designed* testimonials, not actual people, just the designers knowing how to appeal to this site’s particular user group, who may be averse to seeing photos etc that are too obviously models posing for stock photos. I used to think these things didn’t affect me until I realized that maybe it was just the imagery I wasn’t relating to. But if they managed to *choose* the portrait photos that work for me, would I know the difference? They do a great job of showing a variety of user types and having them sound like actual people, but how do I know these people actually visit this site, could be contacted even? How do I know they are “signs of life”, not “signs of design”?

10. Josh on May 30th, 2008 (Comment) #

@Zephyr: Yes, it’s possible that these people are made up. I’m betting they’re not, though. I’ll ask the folks at Freshbooks to find out.

11. Zephyr on May 30th, 2008 (Comment) #

Thanks Josh. I realized later what it was that made me skeptical: it looks exactly like a persona summary sheet! *Based* on actual users (if done well), but not actual users

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