SxDSalon: A group blog on social interaction design

A look at the innovation of social tools

We in the social media industry are given to talk about the fortunes of our leading companies. Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare are our brands. They are the characters in our story, legends of their own making and in their own time. Their decisions and strategies involve us directly and shape the very media we use daily to stay connected and in touch. But their futures and fortunes are just as much in our hands, so much so that we are as much a factor in their destinies as they...

A look at the innovation of social tools

We in the social media industry are given to talk about the fortunes of our leading companies. Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare are our brands. They are the characters in our story, legends of their own making and in their own time. Their decisions and strategies involve us directly and shape the very media we use daily to stay connected and in touch. But their futures and fortunes are just as much in our hands, so much so that we are as much a factor in their destinies as they...

How to write commercial tweets and posts

I recently met with a potential client to do some work on crafting promotional tweets and Facebook status updates with the purpose of sharing commercial offers across social networks. This might not seem to fall within the purview of social interaction design — the job being more of a marketing copy writing contract. But as I dove into the challenge, it soon became clear that even writing tweets and Facebook messages involves a type of social design. the design language ...

On the importance of social interaction design for social startups

This post is an attempt at reaching the startups and social application companies out there that don’t have in-house social interaction design. And the many angels, funders, and venture firms that back them. I would like to say a few things about the role social interaction design can play. With a focus on when to use it, bring it into the product development process, and why. The skills used by social interaction designers are uncommon, and for now, unconventional. In co...

Social interaction design 101

The design of social media tools and services is a bit of an art, and a tricky one at that. Where design methodologies exist, they compete with business requirements and a rapidly changing landscape. Where business goals exist, they, too, must adapt to a marketplace rife with competition. Where best practices exist, use of them in new contexts and tools relies as much on trial and error as it does a well-conceived social design plan. And where engineering solutions exist, they t...

Lobsters, pandas, and Jane Jacobs

An insightful and catchy post in July by iFindKarma made the case that Google can’t get “social” because their model of behavior is utilitarian. Facebook succeeds because their model of behavior is social and fun. This is intriguing, and on some level really disturbing. Google provides a service that meets users needs as “pandas” independent, self-directed individuals, slowly foraging content on the worldwide web, and leaving links and messages behind. The conten...