Know what your audience wants

08Jul08

From the “best thing I read today” files (courtesy of Clickz):

Widgets on a social network are different from those on a personal platform. This might seem obvious, but it’s worth mentioning. The most successful applications on Facebook harness the social network. This includes music and video applications that allow users to see what others are interested in. Less successful are applications that are of value only to the profile holder. This is different from widgets on personal platforms, which center on the individual user’s needs. Both can benefit from adding true e-commerce, however. (For the rest of the “Widget World” article, click here)

The main thing I took from this paragraph? You have to know what your audience (users) want and be willing to give it to them. A headlines widget might be just the right thing for a personal blog or homepage. On a Facebook page, though, the app would be better suited to show what articles the users’ friends (using the same app) are reading, sharing and commenting on.

If you don’t know what your users want, ASK THEM. Go to the message boards, blogs and sites they are and become part of the conversation. Offer to have coffee, buy them a sandwich or arrange a meetup for happy hour.  L-I-S-T-E-N

In the spirit of Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, that’s all.

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Tags: 101, community, Facebook, listen, widgets