massively multiplayer object sharing (web 2.0 open 2008)

Massively multiplayer object sharing

Rashmi Sinhawww.slideshare.netwww.rashmisinha.com

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The plan

What is social sharing? SlideShare Why now? Some theory Some design principles

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This is not it!X

HiI found you while I was searching my network at LinkedIn. Let's connect directly, so we can help each other with referrals. If we connect, both of our networks will grow…

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How it works•People connect to each other•Six degrees of separation•“Are you my friend” awkwardness

First generation Social Networks(Friendster, LinkedIn…)

1) I am linked to ->

-> to you

--->You are linked to her ->

-> to her…

Coffee Dance performance Tomatoes

Object mediated social networks

“… call for the rethinking of sociality along lines that include objects in the concept of social relations.”

Katrin-Knorr Cetina

Reference: http://www.zengestrom.com/blog/2005/04/why_some_social.html

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Second generation social networks Put objects at the center Objects invite us to

Connect Play Reach out

1) I share my pics ->

-> with you --->

-->You share your pics ->

---> with him

How it works•People share objects | watch others•Connections through objects•Social info streams: emergence of popular, interesting items

Model 1: Watercooler conversations (around objects e.g., Flickr, Yahoo answers)

How it works•Individual to individual to individual•Popularity based navigation track “viral” items

Model 2: Viral sharing (passing on interesting stuff, e.g., YouTube videos)

1) I send video I like -> -> to you. You pass on -->

--> to her, who sends on

to her, who passes on…

1) I tag my bookmarks

-> you see my tags

-->You share your tags ->

How it works•Saving & tagging your stuff (creating bookmarks).•Tags mediate social connections•Formation of social/conceptual information streams. Emergence of popular, interesting items

Model 2: Tag-based social sharing (linked by concepts. e.g., del.icio.us)

politicslebanon

Global voices

politics

technologyGlobal voices

webJAVA

CNN networksblogs

science

science

science

brain

1) I find interesting story

-> you rate story

-->Others rate stories

How it works•Finding and rating stories•Popular stories rise to top

Model 4: Social news creation (rating news stories, e.g., digg, Newsvine)

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Presentations as objects of sharing

What to share? digital representation is

incomplete Social practices around

presentations Mirroring them Creating new ones Building community

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The plan

What is social sharing? SlideShare Why now? Some theory Some design principles

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browsing alone

Attributed to PIMboula on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pimboula/15256153/

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The web has become a social sphere

7 in 10 US adults use internet. More than 40% have broadband.

Dec 2006 Pew Internet Research

34% men, 26% women go online everyday just for fun…

2006 Pew Internet Research, for US only

The web has become a social sphere

Massively multiplayer online games

216.5 million people

22240,000 users

WOW is millions of people with diverse backgrounds collaborating, socializing, and learning while having fun. It represents the future of real-time collaborative teams in an always-on, diversity-intensive, real-time environment.

WOW is a glimpse into our future. Joi Ito in Wired Magazine

The web has become a social sphere

Massively multiplayer online games

Rich interfaces enable richer interactions

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The plan

What is social sharing? SlideShare Why now? Some theory Some design principles

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Designing for the individual Usability Findability Interactions and their flow …

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Designing for the group

How people interact Rules for interaction

Product of interaction Collaboration, joint decision…

Problems with groups

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James Surowiecki - wise crowds

Cognitive Diversity Independence Decentralization Easy Aggregation

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Cognitive Diversity

Good answers need many perspectives

Groups become homogenous New (similar) members don’t bring

new info Diversity reduces groupthink

Groupthink works by shielding members from outside opinions

Diversity reduces conformity

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Independence

People’s mistakes don’t get correlated (uncorrelated mistakes averaged out)

Encourages people to bring in new viewpoints (diversity)

Concept of Social Proof Milgram experiment

Decentralization

“A crowd of decentralized people working to solve a problem on their own without any central effort to guide them, come up with better solutions, rather than a top-down driven solution.”

Suroweicki

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A new type of sociality Crowds in MMORPGS

Alone together Passive presence of

others Playing for the audience,

but not interacting

Social facilitation (Zajonc, 1960)

Improved performance in presence of others

Presence can be passive Observed even in

cockroaches!(Ducheneaut et al. CHI 2006)

“Community in MMORPGs … narrowly defined, with references to mythical old villages where everybody knows and interacts with everybody… WoW illustrates, a large community of gamers can thrive in a context where relationships are much more indirect”

Ducheneaut et al., 2006

Duncan Watts and the “rich get richer” effect

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Popularity is becoming popular No more multi-level menus! Navigation is all about popularity

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Web2.0 is about democracy? Anyone can create a blog post pictures, videos and

slideshows

But who gets heard?

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Duncan Watts experiment

Two worlds Individual Social Influence – 8 separate

worlds

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The dilemma of the system creator Social influence will play a role.

Trends will be created

Our principles Everything should have its

moment in the sun Let people connect locally System should not be inflexible

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Models of popularity based navigation

Single simple metric (e.g., Digg)

Single complex metric (e.g., Flickr)

Multiple Simple Metrics (e.g., YouTube, SlideShare)

Different metrics reflect diff qualities

Let people choose

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Popularity metrics

Metric GoalFavoriting Remember stuff

Show others what you like

Tagging Remember stuff

Commenting Interact with others

Digging Decide what goes to front page

Viewing Watch it

Embedding Share on your blog

Emailing Share with your friends

How much is too much?

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Most viewed on SlideShare Shown on front page Problems with most viewed

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The tagging success story Favoriting + Tagging Balance individual and social Started with author tagging Reflect back tags

Add into comment stream

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The plan

What is social sharing? Why now? SlideShare Some theory Some design principles

Forget the ipod!

Give up controlThis is messy!

Plant the seeds, let people connect

Design for emergent architecture

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1. Make system personally useful

For end-user system should have strong personal use

Memorable Personal Snippets (e.g., Del.icio.us & Flickr)

Self-expression (e.g., Newsvine) Social status: Digg

Don’t count on altruism System should thrive on people’s selfishness

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Bite-sized self-expression

Creative self-expression Artistic expression or Humor (Flickr, YouTube)

Individual contribution can be small Create sets & lists Do Mashups Simple, guessable URLs for everything

Leave room for games & social play Appreciation Stalking (some!) Gossip

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2. Symbiotic relationship between personal & social

Personal snippets > Social stream Pictures > Organized by Events Music > Organized by Playlists

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3. Porous boundary between public & private

Earlier systems Personal (Personal Desktop

Software, e.g., Picasa, EndNote) OR Social websites (Shutterfly)

Rethink public & private People share for the right returns Set defaults to public, allow easy

change to private

Give user control Over individual pieces & sets Delete items from history Reset /remove profile

Privacy settings on Flickr

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4. Allow for levels of participation

Everyone does not need to create! Implicit creation (creating by

consuming) Remixing—adding value to others’

contentSource: Bradley Horowitz’s weblog, Elatable, Feb. 17, 2006, “Creators, Synthesizers, and Consumers”

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Why do people digg/comment/tag?

“commenting, digging, burying comments, typing descriptions, reading hundreds of articles and…

…for a lot of nerds, using digg is just a casual free-time activity. Entertaining. Fun. Engaging.”

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5. Let people feel presence of others

What paths are well worn

User profiles / photos

Real-time updating Like a

conversation Sense that

others are out there

What people are digging right now!

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6. And yet, moments of Independence…

Choreography: when alone, when part of group

Prevent mobs Don’t make it too easy

to mimic others Incentives for

originality & uniqueness

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Allow for alternative viewpoints Social sites can lead to tyranny of

dominant view People of a group agree

Viewpoint rises to top (popularity lists, tag clouds)

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7. Enable Serendipity

Don’t make navigation all about popularity Access to some popular stuff (keep this fast

moving) Make the “long tail” accessible

Popularity as a jump off point to other ways of exploring

Provide personalization Recommendations using collaborative filtering

Similar tags, content, others Ad-hoc groups?

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8. Most of all, allow for play

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Challenges

Dominated by relatively few users Systems represent their viewpoints

Minority views get lost. Consensus view bubbles up Giving alternative viewpoints a

voice? Surfacing expertise

How to reflect outside expertise? Weigh it differently?

Questions?

Find me: www.slideshare.net/rashmi

Find slides: www.slideshare.net/groups/web20open