Nathanael Boehm (Canberra, Australia) web user interaction designer

Posted by Nathanael Boehm on June 25th, 2008 in Social Networks

To be an early adopter of new web applications and specifically Web 2.0 social networks and User Generated Content (UGC) based sites like Norg, Twitter, Brightkite etc means that you come in before that site or network has reached critical mass. In fact - you join up when they’re still handing out single digit user IDs.

And you stick with - even though the value of that site is clearly proportionate to the number of people using it, or rather the people relevant to your own expectations - be it geographic (like Brightkite) or interests (like Twitter).

It is the early adopters that give a site sufficient value to attract other users - the early majority. Without the early adopters those people will never come because unlike you they’re not content to sit in an empty room waiting for the rest of the party to come.

Does that make you foolish to waste the time using a new application who’s value lies solely with the social mass contained therein?

Perhaps. Some early adopters just have to play with new things as they come out and are launched - the gadget types. Some want to be pioneers. Others want to because they want to pave the way for the majority to follow.

Whatever the reason it is necessary that this user group exists - because without them to start the ball rolling those new sites will gather dust and fall off the radar.

So: Stop picking on the early adopters! Whatever motivates them to do what they do (and I consider myself to have membership with that group) their participation and perseverance is required in that critical early phase of the life cycle of a new social, community-centric website.

Tags: community, criticalmass, social, socialnetworks, UGC, users