Keith Devens .com

Social software -- the "social interface"

After the successful disasters of the current round of social software, people are realizing that the social interface is an equally important consideration to the user interface.

Clay Shirky has a piece I have to finish reading: Many-to-Many: The Seven Two Pieces Social Software Must Have, and Joel Spolsky has an excellent essay explaining why for social software, It's Not Just Usability.

One interesting thread seems to be that what works in social software is often unexpected. For instance, given the definition of a wiki, no one would think it would actually work. But it does -- spectacularly.

There was an essay a while back where someone pointed out that the current generation of social software creates awkward social situations that don't even exist in real life. If anyone remembers what I'm referring to and can point me to it I'd appreciate it.

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