Originally posted on letscreateastorm.org on April 14th, 2009
Adding geographical information (geo-info) into social networks has been tried several times, but it never was a big success. Here you learn why and also how to make it better.
Folks, I am not talking about the technological problems. There are many people around, who can handle them.
I am talking about how to make this a success!
There are facebook apps, flickr has this function and I already featured geshout.com - and there must be thousands of other concepts for that around - but none of them is successful when it comes to creating a hype. The internet community just does not react on them.
I am sure people would like this service, but it is yet too complicated.
Let’s look at twitter and facebook:
- They are easy too use. You have a box on top and there you post. That’s it.
- They have a clear timeline: Most recent on top, you scroll down - you go to the past. That’s it.
- They focus on people. That’s it.
Hence the formula is: Easiness + Timeline + People = Success
Compare that with those geo-things:
- You need to tell your location before posting, either by typing it or zooming in. That’s complicated.
- You see all posts on the map at the same time. You can’t go through them step by step. That’s confusing.
- They focus on the location, not on the people. That’s not so interesting.
So their formula is: Complicated + Confusing + Wrong information = No success
I am sorry guys, it is that simple!
But - here comes the solution:
Easiness + Timeline + People + Geo info = (Possible) Success
Never, I say NEVER, put geographical information in front!
Add it to what is successful:
- Keep it simple. Posting has to be as easy as on twitter. Read the GPS-data from the mobile, get location info from the ISP, or use the saved home location of that person. And only if they want to, they add it themselves.
- Have a clear timeline. And next to it a map or google earth. When you mouse-over a post, the map shows the location.
- You still see your friends at once. Mouse-over shows locations, or you can show all your friends as network on the map.
- Pure geo-info is boring. You need helpful features. E.g. I go on vacation to Hong Kong. I wanna know: a) who of my friends is there or was there already; b) does any of my friends’ friends live there; etc.
Always think about the users and if something is useful for them.
So the final formula is: Useful = Successful