October 28th, 2011. Posted by Louise Potter
The TEDxSiliconAlley is currently happening in New York City and one of the speakers is Siobhan Quinn – who heads up the engagement team over at Foursquare. The Next Web just posted a summary of Quinn’s five key rules of user engagement and her rhetoric intrigued me, especially in relation to some of the ideas that WIRED editor David Rowan started to thrash out on Tuesday night.
Quinn’s theory on engaging users and ensuring that they come back to Foursquare is based on the following human truths:
1. We seek out the comfort of human relationships
Essentially, that we all seek out community and the internet is just the modern way of harnessing one. The importance of this can be seen through the usual suspects, such as Facebook and Twitter, but also more unusual examples like the anonymous postcard site, Postsecret.
2. We all have something to say
And so we need to provide people with outlets to express themselves. Social tools – comments, notes, likes, etc. – are crucial to engagement.
3. We need to feel valued
People like feeling special. And they especially like when they get rewards which tell them how special they are. Explains the existence of foursquare badges and the rationale behind their creation.
4. We are hypnotized by beauty
This point is one that Steve Jobs was well aware of – that humans want technology to be contained within a beautifully designed exterior. Making things look good won’t ensure success, but it definitely helps.
5. We are captivated by the unknown
People like to discover things – and technology can help them to do this.
Quinn’s talk supposedly ended with the line, “we need to leverage it and change the world.” Which makes me like her even more than her insightful rules of engagement did.
via PSFK
