Experience Matters

Micro-Interactions in The Real World

Last week I had the opportunity to get outside of the office, go out into the real world and interact with peers and industry colleagues in New York city (and Brooklyn too!). Sharing/exchanging ideas with smart people from diverse backgrounds is one of the best parts of my job and this last recent opportunity was no exception. On Monday, I moderated a panel at Widget Web Expo featuring (from left to right) Steph Agresta of Internet Geek Girl fame, Ian Schafer from media agency Deep Focus, Steve Rubel of Edelman, Matt Dickman of Fleishman-Hillard and David Malouf from Motorola. I was also able to present my evolving POV on Micro-Interactions to about 50+ Interaction Designers at IXDA’s NYC chapter. And lastly I got to share those same thoughts at Icon Nicholson. Here’s a few thoughts from my experience over these two days:

Widgets Need Homes Too
Our panel on Monday was a lively discussion and we covered topics ranging from portable experiences, to distribution to even aggregation models such as the relatively new service called Friendfeed. Advertising Age did a nice job covering the panel offering up this analysis on our discussion:

“The title was “Micro Interactions: Can portable experiences go mainstream?” It’s certainly a timely topic, tying in to the idea that the web is increasingly becoming a series of small services and experiences that consumers stitch together at their own will. Given the personalities on the panel, it should have been no surprise the discussion soon turned to web services like Twitter, Plurk and FriendFeed.

But these services don’t exist in a vacuum. Rather, they have the potential to seriously influence what is arguably the web’s biggest navigational tool: Google.”
Full story on Advertising Age

But in addition to the “Google connection” the interesting part of the panel came remotely via a back channel powered by Twitter. Steve Hall, editor of the popular blog Ad Rants let out this Tweet in response to Steve Rubel’s proclomation that the Website as we know it is dead.

“Shit!! I mean …if there are no Websites, where will we put the Widgets?”

In my mind, Hall’s point was well taken. In our rush to emphasize fragmentation and dissemination—we can’t forget that simple Websites, yes W-E-B S-I-T-E-S are, in fact the distribution model. The real discussion is around how those sites (or applications) are providing enough value to attract traffic and offer meaningful engagement. Brands no longer have a monopoly in this area as blogs and other “unofficial” sites scoop up eyeballs. Thanks Steve for that simple reminder.

The Future For Interaction Designers is Bright
My talk at the IXDA event was focused around an evolved version of the POV I first posted around a month ago on Slideshare titled “Micro-Interactions + Direct Engagement in a 2.0 World”. The presentation is a high-level overview of some of the changes we are seeing regarding the relationships we have with each other as well as brands in a rapidly changing digital world. During one part of the presentation after talking through several case studies including Dell, Starbucks and Vegas, I threw out an observation that interaction designers will be in high demand as these shifts continue. My premise is a simple one. Advertising has traditionally been about mass communications “messaging” focused around a single “big idea”. But extraordinary experiences which engage users in a 2.0 wold are built upon the seemingly infinite interactions we have with brands and each other. This is the foundation of “micro-interactions”. Certainly, storytelling plays a part—but ultimately brands like Google and Craigslist are creating brand loyalty based upon what they do—as opposed to what they say. Interaction designers help support the doing. It’s that simple.

We’re All In This Together
On Tuesday after my talk at the IXDA event, I came back to the Icon Nicholson office in Soho to re-present my POV on “Micro-Interactions”. After the talk, I was given a tour of the office and even spent some time casually chatting with the CEO of the agency—Tom Nicholson. What’s the significance? Technically, Icon Nicholson works in the same space as Critical Mass, so in a way I was the “competition” wandering through their halls. But in a 2.0 world where things seem to change at pace which most of us can barely keep up with, we need to re-think how we can learn from and help each other. Fact is that all agencies in our space are facing very real challenges in addition to fantastic opportunities. Where microsites and ad banners used to rule the day, we now need to think the digital lifestyle as an increasingly important slice of broader human behavior and factor the implications of emerging media in all it’s manifestations. While at Icon, I asserted that one of the biggest challenges agencies face is that marketing initiatives are often focused on short term gain vs. fostering long term relationships. This results in a churn and burn which can become difficult for us to sustain. In a 2.0 world, agencies must “join the conversation” for the lack of a better phrase. Even if that means with conversing with each other and sharing a few things along the way.

So that’s what I did last week. Oh, and I managed to squeeze in some vacation time too. But that’s fodder for another post.