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Business Class

August 28, 2009

How to Design for Social Traction

Guy Kawasaki

Chief Evangelist, Canva

Summary

I’ve made a lot of presentations, and I’ve seen a lot of pitches, but I’ve never voluntarily gone through a 120-slide presentation until tod

I’ve made a lot of presentations, and I’ve seen a lot of pitches, but I’ve never voluntarily gone through a 120-slide presentation until today. That’s when I saw one called “Designing for Social Traction.” In it, designer Joshua Porter explains how to solve the three big problems of social software:

    1.    Getting people to sign-up for a service.

    2.    Making their first-time use a positive and engaging experience.

    3.    Keeping them engaged on an ongoing basis.

For example, here are his key points about the sign-up process:

    •    Engage people immediately.

    •    Reduce the perceived commitment necessary for trial.

    •    Increase the amount of description of your site in a gradual manner.

    •    Utilize the social reinforcement of others.

I don’t want to steal the thunder of the rest of the presentation, but trust me, if you’re in the business of signing up and engaging people via a website, you will want to check out this presentation.