Main Description
Successful online communities are the key to any Web-based strategy, but they are difficult to create. This book digs in to all aspects of how to design social web applications. It begins by identifying what they are, explores the motivations for adding social features, pitfalls to avoid in their implementation, and best practices to strive for.Main Description
How do you create and launch a vibrant social web application that people are motivated to use? Getting people to participate (and stay participating) is the key to any web-based strategy, but you have to do more than simply add features. This book teaches you how. By using real world examples and a bit of social psychology theory, this book provides a solid foundation for designing your next great web application. Packed full of information and best practices, this book will show you: bull; How to distinguish between different types of social web applications and the design challenges of each bull; The core reasons why people participate online, as individuals and as groups bull; How to prevent the Cold Start Problem -- when you build ithellip;and they donrsquo;t come. bull; How viral sharing works on sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr bull; How to avoid PR nightmares that have plagued companies like Dell and Walmart bull; How to design for first-time users bull; How to grow your social web application from zero users to 1000, and beyondMain Description
Best practices for building social web applications that encourage participation, sharing and cooperation in online communities.Title Summary
"No matter what type of web site or application you're building, social interaction among the people who use it will be key to its success. They will talk about it, invite their friends, complain, sing its high praises, and dissect it in countless ways. With the right design strategy you can use this social interaction to get people signing up, coming back regularly, and bringing others into the fold. With examples from real-world interfaces and a touch of the underlying social psychology theory, Joshua Porter shows you how to design your next great social web application."--BOOK JACKET.Long Description
No matter what type of web site or application you're building, social interaction among the people who use it will be key to its success. They will talk about it, invite their friends, complain, sing its high praises, and dissect it in countless ways. With the right design strategy you can use this social interaction to get people signing up, coming back regularly, and bringing others into the fold. With tons of examples from real-world interfaces and a touch of the underlying social psychology theory, Joshua Porter shows you how to design your next great social web application. Inside, you'll discover: - The real reasons why people participate online and the psychology behind them - The Usage Lifecycle--or how people use your web application over time - How to get people past that trickiest of hurdles: sign-up - What to do when you've launched a web application and nobody is using it - How to analyze the effectiveness of your application screens and flows - How to grow your social web application from zero users to 1000--and beyond Designing for the social web is about much more than adding features. It's about embracing the social interaction of the people who make you successful--and then designing smartly to encourage it.