All aboard? Turning users into active users

Editor's Notes

• #3: Title Slide. • “let’s get to it”
• #5: • From Summmize • Search, platform (might remember API Group) • OAuth (sorry) - xAuth/cash-for-guns? • International (translation, char counting, twitter-text)
• #6: • Before the technical stuff a little info on why you should be interested. • the main reason: Users
• #14: It’s a progression and en evolution. We know that once we get users engaged, they're crazy engaged. Twitter is the first source they check, or the first place they think of to share something interesting
• #23: Magnets: what attracts users to your app Hooks: what interests them and keeps them coming back Glue: what keeps them sticking around
• #24: How many of you watch LOST? polarizing those who started watching the show early, more engaged those who joined halfway in, less so - context, character development, back story Art of the RECAP: recap episodes to catch up new viewers, pop-up repeats, Previously on LOST Joining Twitter: entering the middle of a conversation context, characters, moving stream - hard to jump in and feel immediately comfortable.
• #27: Real world example: Getting a drivers license. Technically, it’s kind of a pain. But you’re willing to go through it all because you have clear motivation. You know why you want to drive, so you’re willing to slug through the how.
• #28: Real world example: Getting a drivers license. Technically, it’s kind of a pain. But you’re willing to go through it all because you have clear motivation. You know why you want to drive, so you’re willing to slug through the how.
• #32: Real world example: Getting a drivers license. Technically, it’s kind of a pain. But you’re willing to go through it all because you have clear motivation. You know why you want to drive, so you’re willing to slug through the how.
• #35: Casual users may often make up your largest group. They are potentially your largest, yet most volatile group. They are on the cusp of either advancing to committed, or giving up because they don’t see the point.
• #36: a Learning curve, despite its simplicity b Early adopters vs mainstream c path to discovering the value d finding people is hard, finding topics is harder e strange syntax (@, RT, DM, #, bit.ly) f fragments of conversations g conceptual level: it's not like Facebook or LinkedIn where you need symmetrical relationships
• #38: In catering to casual users... Connect them with relevance ASAP. This is Twitters BSOD. Avoid the BSOD: not the blue screen of death from Windows. In Web Apps, this is the Blank Screen of Death
• #39: Hindsight is 20/20.
• #42: 37 Signals does a pretty good job of avoiding the blank screen for new users. For screens that don’t yet have any content, or even for features of an app that require upgrading to use, they try not to show you a blank screen, but rather, a view into how this screen could look once it has content on it. Gives you ideas, prevents you losing interest.
• #43: The old SUL (what it attempted to solve, the issues it created, lack of transparency, select all) Our lesson: Don’t solve problems with a solution that creates more problems. Next slide: Sometimes lessons like trying to think ahead, or considering the impact of careless actions can only be learned in hindsight.
• #45: Users now choose each source they follow, one at a time, rather than the mass-select-all followings from the original SUL.
• #49: Real world example: Getting a drivers license. Technically, it’s kind of a pain. But you’re willing to go through it all because you have clear motivation. You know why you want to drive, so you’re willing to slug through the how.
• #53: These are our high-frequency consumers and/or publishers. Our self-made evangelists and promoters, our trend-setters. These are the users who can reach out to others, create curiosity or awareness, and drive engagement on lower rungs of the ladder.
• #58: We don’t market or advertise. Instead, we provide tools for users to promote themselves on twitter (like widgets, buttons,
• #59: also effective for another category of users: comatose: dormant users who signed up, then disappeared. Reasons: didn’t see value, friends weren’t here, couldn’t find anything interesting. Many more of their friends are on Twitter now - experimenting with ways to reach out to comatose
• #63: Speaking of removing features or keeping them out: Love this quote: Michael Lopp, Eng Dir @ Apple. What if this decision didn’t matter? What if we could remove this decision completely?