Gettin’ social with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, et al in San Francisco, CA. The hashtag is #omssf.
You can follow me at @UsabilityCounts on Twitter. Or not.
I’m at Device Design Day in San Francisco, California today.
You can follow what I have to say on Twitter at @UsabilityCounts (the feed will be heaver than usual because I’ll be commenting a bit).They’re also using the hashtag of #d3.
Cheers.
I think this article is important because many times, user experience professionals have to work to change culture. They also have design web applications that have to spread virally.
If this is really true, this holds all kinds of implications. Do you design applications to appeal to 10 percent of the audience? Do you target smaller groups? Fascinating.
“When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”
…
An important aspect of the finding is that the percent of committed opinion holders required to shift majority opinion does not change significantly regardless of the type of network in which the opinion holders are working. In other words, the percentage of committed opinion holders required to influence a society remains at approximately 10 percent, regardless of how or where that opinion starts and spreads in the society.
…
The scientists developed computer models of various types of social networks. One of the networks had each person connect to every other person in the network. The second model included certain individuals who were connected to a large number of people, making them opinion hubs or leaders. The final model gave every person in the model roughly the same number of connections. The initial state of each of the models was a sea of traditional-view holders. Each of these individuals held a view, but were also, importantly, open minded to other views.
Once the networks were built, the scientists then “sprinkled” in some true believers throughout each of the networks. These people were completely set in their views and unflappable in modifying those beliefs. As those true believers began to converse with those who held the traditional belief system, the tides gradually and then very abruptly began to shift.
This is huge. Read on…
As a trade for that great series, I wrote a post over at Nomad Chique about travel applications for the iPhone. Enjoy.
I want mobile applications to fill a very specific need. I might have several applications on my phone like that. When you consider how much traveling costs, I think spending $25 for a few applications is worth the investment for a better trip.
The best applications are designed with the user experience in mind, by filling needs within the context of your trip. For example:
- Is my flight delayed?
- How much does it cost for a taxi to my hotel from the airport?
- Where do I get something to eat that’s inexpensive, but recommended by locals?
- How do I get to a neighborhood?
- How do I call a taxi?
- Where’s free WiFi if I’m out of the country?
Great ideas come from collaborative teams working as one:
The reason the studios were so important for Hitchcock is that they allowed him to cultivate the right kind of creative team. While the director relied on many longstanding partners, such as his decade-long relationship with the editor George Tomasini and cinematographer Robert Burks, he also routinely brought in new talent, including John Steinbeck, Raymond Chandler and Salvador Dali.
For instance, on North by Northwest, a classic Cary Grant thriller, Hitchcock insisted on working with Ernest Lehman, a screenwriter best known for Sabrina. It was, at first glance, a peculiar choice: Sabrina was a romantic comedy, and Hitchcock had been hired to create a dark suspense movie. But Hitchcock knew what he was doing. In fact, he gave Lehman a tremendous amount of creative freedom. (Hitchcock’s only requirement was that the plot contain three elements: a case of mistaken identity, the United Nations building and a chase scene across the face of Mt. Rushmore.) Although it took Lehman more than a year to write the script, the wait was worth it. “I wanted to write the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures,” Lehman said.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Today we “close” our series on the IDEATE Design Loop with “E” – “Evaluate the Results.”
At this point we have either:
1. Finished usability testing of the designs with our target users or
2. Implemented our visual designs and have gone live with our site or application.
User experience design is an ongoing living and breathing process that can only be improved upon if we have measurable metrics and a clear plan for regularly checking how we’re doing so we can keep steering the ship in the right direction. Usually we can’t fix everything and completely change the world in the first launch, so we break it down and create new targets to the future. Evaluating the results of our major UI design revamps can help keep us on track and even give us ideas on how to make our site more meaningful and useful to our users.
In this evaluation part of the process, we can begin choosing what metrics we will use to track our progress and begin installing them now that the site is live. We should also set goals on how frequently we will monitor and re-analyze our stats whether it be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.
• Google Analytics or other Web Analytics tools that show data on traffic sources, entry and exit pages, popular content, length of visits and bounce rates. We can easily see how certain pages are performing and how users are responding on days when marketing campaigns are launched by cross referencing with launch dates and times.
• Feedback Surveys – We can send post-launch and regularly scheduled surveys with end-users or customers about their satisfaction and user experience with the site. Or we can offer persistent ways for customers to provide feedback when they feel like giving it, using widgets like the GetSatisfaction widget.
• Conversion Analytics – Deeper analytics from content management systems and other website management platforms can help us understand how well users successfully completed a task, or purchased that product, or acted upon that call-to-action, like submitting a contact form or calling your toll-free number.
Once we’ve chosen our metrics and set benchmarks for the site, we should assign team members to be the keepers of this data and set up times to review them together with the whole team.
Our evaluation should assess not only our successes, but also our failures and areas to be improved on for next time. We should report on things like:
• How well we fulfilled the design specs and design brief – our original goals
• Strengths & weaknesses of the final site or application
• Strengths & weaknesses of our process and how well it worked for all our key players – end-users, management team, content contributors, usability analysts, designers, and developers
• Recommendations for improvements, and
• Any new ideas for adding on or enhancing the site or application in future phases, especially if a product roadmap has been started and needs to be completed
Remember, get real, don’t just be a cheerleader. The point of this is to be objective and honest about what worked well and what didn’t, so we can make measurable improvements over time.
Truly, each and every website or application is unique with its own set of users, problems, constraints and goals. And yes, there are similarities and patterns that can lead to best practices but it’s important to approach each new project with a fresh set of eyes and ears because what works for one site, may not work for the next one. This is why the IDEATE Design Loop is so helpful as a guiding process that ensures we cover all our bases along the way. You can see how investing even a little bit of time in planning and user testing can save us LOTS of headaches down the road.
Happy designing!
Read it from the very beginning here – A Day in the Life of (this) User Experience Designer.
Jobvite is the full-time gig, and they’re nice enough to let me blog. I talk all the time to recruiters, and one of the discussions we have about searching for candidates is the quality of LinkedIn profiles.
The best job opportunities often appear when you aren’t looking for them. Recruiters look for both passive and active candidates and may be looking for someone like you. Keeping your LinkedIn profile updated with well-written, relevant, and professional content can help you attract interesting career opportunities, even if you aren’t actively looking.
There are a lot of people that give advice on what a great LinkedIn profile is. The important distinction between “social media consultants” and this blog post is that the tips here are from real recruiting professionals who work with Jobvite and ones who I know and trust. We trade stories and tips about LinkedIn profiles and talk about great people we have seen. Here are some of the best tips:
Most recruiters make their initial decision of whom they’re going to look at right on the search results page. They have a position have to fill, and their focus is pretty narrow to start.
Do you really think they’re going to click on a profile that’s titled “UX Ninja?”
(And can we please retire the word “ninja” from the English language when describing anything career related, unless you wield a sword?)
The headline should be clear, concise, and describe exactly what your chosen goal is for using LinkedIn as a professional. It should communicate the type of opportunity you would want at any size company.
Ideal headlines are “Social Media Consultant” or “Java Software Developer.” It could also be “Marketing Professional” or “Health Domain Expert.” Each of those headlines describes exactly what the person is and what kind of position they are looking for. It can stand out, but it doesn’t have to stand out too much.
Your summary should also be short, snappy, and explain exactly how you can help your ideal employer or client.
LinkedIn is not Facebook.
It’s a network where professionals connect and recruiters look to make sure the person they hiring isn’t Jabba the Hut. Image isn’t everything, but it does count for a lot; and those images do appear in search results.
It’s also important to emphasize that even if you are attractive, that trip you took to Cabo San Lucas has exactly zero photos that should be used on LinkedIn.
How do you get professional photos?
It’s really easy. Visit your local photo studio and ask how much it costs for a one-hour session where you can wear something appropriate to your line of your work. If you’re unemployed, do a trade for photos or request on Craigslist.
For User Experience, it might be just a nice collar shirt. For Sales, it might include a tie. You don’t have to be overly made up. Look good enough with great lighting so people will get a good impression.
I’ve been going through the hiring process for Visual and User Experience Designers and have seen a lot of LinkedIn profiles. Most of them were in pretty good share, but there was the occasional “I worked at Joe’s Pizza Place” in the profile. It may seem cool to list every non-profit and coffee shop you have worked for, but here’s the reality: it isn’t.
Recruiters scan through your resume, and they want to see positions relevant to your field of experience. Hiring managers need to see a clear progression from position to position. There are allowances for moving around (especially in this economy), but recruiters want to see career growth, especially for professional positions.
For that, DJ’ing at the local dance hall doesn’t apply.
You have extracurricular activities you think may be good? Great, put that on your resume after education but not in your professional profile. Show the progression in your career, and you’ll get a better response rate in calls and interviews.
I’ve gone through a lot of profiles that the typical “User Experience/Web Design/Social Media/Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing/Programming Expert” job descriptions. If you were really skilled at all of those positions, you would never, EVER need a LinkedIn profile.
Aim for a level higher than you could achieve, but don’t reach for the moon. Recruiters are looking for candidates that fit the position they are filling right now, not where that position could be five years from now. If you’re currently a Product Manager, aim for Senior Product Manager positions. If your a sales professional, aim for Sales Manager. It’s all about advancing in your career, but not too much to look like you’re really reaching up the ladder.
One candidate I found was good product management type, but there was nothing in his resume that indicated what his intended goal was: “Vice President of Product Management.” His track record had nothing to indicate he should have been higher than a Senior Product Manager or User Experience professional.
Recruiters pick up on that. Quickly.
Several times I’ve found a great candidate on LinkedIn, and it looks like he has the experience I’ve needed for a position. We go through the interview process, and the resume says something different.
True, people should spend much more time on resumes than they’re LinkedIn profile. The irony is that tools like Jobvite integrate LinkedIn profiles into the application process, and it’s viewed before the resume, especially for sourcing passive candidates.
I follow a very simple formula for writing my profile and resume: I have two to three sentences about what my responsibilities at the position were, and three clear bullet points about my accomplishments. It’s easy: explain what you did, how it affected the bottom line of the company.
Everyone from a low paid customer service position from CEO should have some idea of how you contributed to the company, and can explain it succinctly in your profile.
For example, a friend of mine worked at You Tube. It might have been “just” a position around customer support, but she did it for a major brand. The quality of the work saved the company thousands of dollars in extra support costs. That’s huge and something very valuable to most companies.
It all goes down to the way people search in the web. Recruiters enter keywords like User Experience, Product Manager, Developer, and Java to look for skill sets or job titles. They have to do that, because recruiters don’t understand most positions unless they are really embedded in a team.
Generally, recruiters work with hiring managers to define the requisitions and search other requisitions on the web to figure out what experiences the perfect candidate should have.
Having an obscure job title like “UX Ninja” or “Superstar” won’t help your chances, and I would even go so far in talking about specifics. For example, I use Wireframes, Personas, and Use Cases in my profile, because recruiters search against that. Several recruiters have found me that way. I also don’t list skills that I have, but I don’t want to do anymore, like Creative Direction.
It goes both ways, but when I talk to most recruiters, the number of recommendations that a candidate has on LinkedIn doesn’t really influence their decision. In fact, they’ll question the value of them if the candidate has too many of them.
What they really want to see is the quality of recommendations.
Having a few is good, and I’ve even used them in my resume. This makes it easier for the recruiter or hiring manager to gauge the quality of a candidate without having to pull up their profile. Recruiters and hiring managers want to know in what kind of environment the person best fits, the quality of the work, and how the person works with teams. Cultural fit is so important these days, especially in smaller teams.
What they don’t want to see is the typical stuff: “He comes in on time,” “She’s motivated,” or “Loves working in teams.” These don’t mean anything.
The more concrete the recommendation is on working style, the better.
Patrick Neeman is the Director of User Experience with Jobvite. His previous experience includes working with startups to launch their product, User Experience and Social Media consulting with Microsoft, and managing a team of 25 User Experience professionals for a technology consultancy. He also runs a blog, Usability Counts, that covers topics such as User Experience, Social Media, and Web Marketing.
Patrick Neeman is Director of User Experience at Jobvite, a social recruiting platform and runs both the UX Drinking Game and Startup Drinking Game | More | Contact
If you're a UX Designer in San Francisco, ping me at Twitter. I want to add you to a list I have there.
