chadbartlett@mac.com

AOL was a community bastion. You didn’t have the web of networks presented like in MySpace or other social apps today. But while lower in fidelity if you will, the experiences are really the same.

This is why I have always said that the success of MySpace and Facebook is b/c AOL failed and nothing more or less. If AOL sustained its energy and evolved, it could have been great, but it went the media/content route and forgot about its core content creators, their users.

Oh Welll! loose and learn, they should hope.

– dave

For me, this says a lot about the way that we should be approaching ‘testing’ applications like this. It’s certainly not a traditional 1hr usability test in a lab with a brand new user that’s going to help identify whether or not social sites are working.

I agree with you btw but MySpace and even Virb are a thing of the present. Yesterday it was computer games and before that it was drugs and rock n roll etc.

btw just for the record I have some thoughts on MySpace and also Virb if you wanted to follow them hear.

It was developed without much design resources, and as a designer, it’s been fascinating to watch the product evolve. Everyone sees the power of the technology, but a few on the design team struggle to embrace the project, meanwhile, nearly everyone else, while they struggle with it and realize it’s needs work, they are nonetheless thrilled with it, and I’ve seen people in the office til 10pm working on 5 or more personal pages because it’s such a powerful tool of expression for them.

A few examples:
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/pages/jill-macneice-s-buteyko-page

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/pages/weight-a-minute–the-procrastinators%E2%80%99-diet-club

http://www.revolutionhealth.com/pages/type-ii-diabetes

I think, as it is with Myspace, that we as designers, technologists, etc, have our standards rightfully set high, but most people just want to be able to express themselves, have their voice heard, and feel like they’re connecting with others, and are not too concerned if the tools are don’t align themselves to the exact pixel, etc.

As a designer at Rev, I’m fascinated to see how this tool evolves, and how design can involve itself in project (hence, one of the reasons I subscribe to this blog).

It is my conviction that this is all part of design…that the decisions about what social features to add, how to connect users, and how to enable “invisible culture” (to use our new term), is all about design.

Now, if you were talking about visual design, then I still agree 100%.

That’s exactly it…it’s the culture that’s hidden, not the life, per se.

Recently, I joined a community theatre group which lead to interaction with a set of talented high-school kids, none of whom I’d consider “friends” per say, but one of them found my facebook page. Within a week I was added to all of their friends lists. I was fascinated. It drove a decent amount of traffic to my website, not the target audience, but traffic none the less.

Of course now I’m the creepy 20-something on facebook with all the teenage friends, but I guess it’s a decent proof of concept for social marketing, and a fascinating view of a more or less invisible culture.

i think that good designers has always this artsy side, which makes them disconnected from the pack.

also, because myspace is the #1 destination on the internet, does this article imply that web designers have to open an account in myspace?