Never trust a button
I recently made contact with an old colleague, Paul, whose longstanding Never Trust a Hippy blog puts my Johnny-come-lately effort to shame. A few days later he invited me to be his friend on Bebo.
My thoughts were:
- He seems a bit keen – we’ve only just got reacquainted.
- Why is he asking me to join him on Bebo – he’s even older than me.
A few days later, the explanation came:
If you have ever emailed me, or been e-mailed by me, you probably received an invitation to join Bebo a few days ago … I wanted to see how the ‘invitation’ system worked so I let it see my Gmail address book, and – you know how it is – when it offered me the option of mailing everyone or just picking one or two people, I somehow managed to reverse it.
As it happens, Paul isn’t the first. Facebook also makes it a little too easy to email everyone in your address book, and several old chums have got back in touch with me that way (or so they say – I prefer to think that they were just itching to contact me but were too shy to say).
One reason for making such mistakes is summed up by Steve Krug, who eight years ago published “Don’t Make Me Think”, the first (and still the best) book I ever read on web usability: ”The main thing you need to know about instructions [on web pages] is that no one is going to read them – at least not until after repeated attempts at ‘muddling through’ have failed.” And us seasoned web hacks are the least likely to read instructions – and therefore the most likely to screw up.
On the other hand, Paul’s more succinct explanation probably says it all:
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About this site
This is a blog about DTP – design, technology and politics – or it would be if I didn't keep going off at tangents.
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About Clifford Singer
I'm a partner and creative director at Sparkloop graphic design agency. I sometimes play guitar in my poor excuse for a band, The Great Apes. You can find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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My other sites
Spacebeats (musical madness)
Bubblewrapped (economic madness)
TaxPayers' Alliance (no, not that one)
Yep. Bloody Bebo.
I’ve argued – in the past – that usability is a big investment, and when you do it properly, you end up competing with your rivals very effectively. Central government can make services very usable and this – in turn – leads to political centralisation (central gov is more easy to deal with and efficient than local gov when it uses the web – this is a BAD thing).
This also seems to chime in very well with the ‘Nudge’ theme that everyone was talking about before wonkiness was eclipsed by the economic crisis a few months ago. If activists can make the people they like easier to deal with – more interactive – then it can make the world a better place. Your ‘taxpayers alliance’ site makes it easier for all of us who hate these tossers to organise against them more effectively.
Anyway – sorry for the long incoherent comment, and welcome to the blogosphere!
Well I am very glad that my Facebook faux pas found you, Mr Singer (the distant, deranged ex was easily redisposed of). Nice blog!
“The distant, deranged ex was easily redisposed of” – that sounds like a blog topic in itself.