Social Media
10 principles for Social Object design
Alex de Carvalho
twitter.com/alexdc
tapio.com

Brazilian – Finnish / diplomatic childhood
High school and college in Miami (UMiami)
Last decade in Europe / INSEAD MBA
Scrapblog.com / Adj. Prof. at UMiami on “Social Media”
BarCampMiami / RefreshMiami.org

10 principles for Social Object design
1. kiss: keep is social, stupid
2. define the objects of sociality
3. objects invite play
4. to play, to stroke
5. multiply the actions
6. asynchronous interaction
7. mind the bacn
8. set the ‘dun’bar higher
9. reputation display
10. building social capital

1. kiss: keep it social, stupid
“Social”
“Traditional”
Media
Media

paradigm shift
Ptolemaic
Heliocentrism
System
Sun
Earth

\"If there were a real proof that the Sun is in the centre of
the universe, that the Earth is in the third sphere, and that
the Sun does not go round the Earth but the Earth round
the Sun, then we should have to proceed with great
circumspection in explaining passages of Scripture which
appear to teach the contrary, and we should rather have to
say that we did not understand them than declare an
opinion false which has been proved to be true.
But I do not think there is any such proof since none has
been shown to me.\"
- Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, c.1633

“Traditional” Media
Newspapers
Magazines
Television
Radio
Books
CDs
DVDs
A box of photos
Physical, paper mail and catalogs
Yellow Pages

“Social” Media
• The [“Traditional”] media above can’t be changed. A newspaper can’t
magically change its stories, even if society decides something in
them is incorrect.
• You can interact with my blog. You can leave a comment
• You can get some sense of the popularity of my stu in real time.
• With the “new media” you can look at my archives and see all posts.
• Here on my blog I can mix media. A post could contain text, audio,
video, or photos.
• Here on my blog I don’t need to convince a committee to publish.
• The new media is infinite. (time, space, schedule)
• The new media is syndicatable [sic] and linkable and easily reused.
• The new media can be mashed up with data from other services.
Robert Scoble, http://scobleizer.com/2007/02/16/what-is-social-media/

Social Media
Blogging
Social Networking
Wikis
Bookmarking
Photosharing
Calendaring
Tagging
Podcasting
Microblogging

small world phenomenon
Stanley Milgram examined the average path length for
social networks of people in the United States.
The research revealed that human society is a “small
world” type network characterized by shorter-than-
expected path lengths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_world_phenomenon
Illustration: Laurens van Lieshout

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

“A Social Graph is good at representing
links between people but it doesn’t explain what
connects those particular people and not others
People don’t just connect to each other.
They connect through a shared object.”
Jyri Engestrom http://www.zengestrom.com/

Graph: GustavoG http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavog/9708628/

Karin Knorr-Cetina
“the rethinking of sociality along lines that
include objects in the concept of social
relations.”
KNORR-CETINA, K. & BRUEGGER, U. (2002) Traders' engagement with markets:
A postsocial relationship. Theory, Culture & Society, 19, 161–185.

“The services that we love to play with
allow people to socialize around objects”
Flickr
YouTube
Del.icio.us
Blogging
Twitter
“Think about objects as the reason why
people get in touch with each other”
Jyri Engestrom http://www.zengestrom.com/

2. define the objects of sociality
Photo: calero|photography http://www.flickr.com/photos/calero/425784378/

shared interests, shared passions

memorable moments
http://blog.scrapblog.com/general/we-cherish-these-comments-and-moments/

Graph: GustavoG http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavog/4499404/in/set-113313/

3. objects invite play
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5fGSBsfq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrShK-NVMIU

4. to play, to “stroke”
Photo: MyTwistedLens
http://www.flickr.com/photos/twistedlens/507725391/
Photo: calero|photography
http://www.flickr.com/photos/calero/425784378/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adc/215405524

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adc/215405524

5. multiply the actions
Invite Print
Send
Share Buy
Bite
View Tag
Embed Save Collaborate Poke
Comment
Group Add
Attach
Trackback
Favorite Shout
Forward Hug Link Cluster

6. asynchronous interaction

7. mind the bacn
Photo: Patrick Haney http://flickr.com/photos/splat/177826218/

8. set the ‘dun’bar higher

9. reputation display

10. building social capital

Show us your social objects!
Alex de Carvalho
twitter.com/alexdc
tapio.com