Lacan’s Mirror & Social Media
Lacan’s Mirror Stage of development is a concept in the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan describing the formation of one’s identity through perception of imagery. Long story short, ensuring who we think we are matches up to what we see in the mirror.
The concept in and of itself is interesting. But, when you apply a social lens to it, things become fascinating. Social media, a channel we typically use to curate our “best selves”, provides both the platform we use to build our identity as well as the mirror. Ugh… This feedback loop kinda makes my head hurt!
So, what gives? Who are we, really? What good is this to a brand trying to succeed the space?
Well, two of those questions could be debated for hours. But, the third, really has a pretty simple answer: Brands need to facilitate relationships between individual fans in a way that strengthens their own identity.
How do we do this?
- Tell them something that we know about them that they don’t. Think poll results, or showing a map of responses to a question.
- Summarize trends we’re seeing.
- Guide them with questions where groups can agree… or disagree.
- Highlight strong involvement within the community.
Just a few ways to get you thinking… Keep the ball rolling here, or @dfcbfirestarter.
Can we stop calling it multi-tasking?
If we are truly in-tune with behavior and technology, we’ve got to move past describing how people interact with technology as Multi-tasking.
Multi-tasking these days feels like a hold-over from a time when interacting with two or three appliances felt like a lot for people to manage cognitively, physically. But these days, people don’t think about watching TV and using their smartphone to chat with friends as separate technologies being multi-tasked. It’s just watching TV.
With that being said, how does the story we see on TV play out across other platforms? What are the natural behaviors/tendencies we want to accentuate or utilize at each stage of the story? It’s clear that, now more than ever, we need to ask ourselves questions like these in order to make the most of our interactions with an audience.
Why Every Friday Should Be A #FriskyFriday
The Next Web just released a case study from Playboy on the success of its weekly Twitter campaign, #FriskyFriday. Every Friday on Twitter, Playboy asks its female followers and former playmates to share photos of themselves using the #FriskyFriday hashtag and then chooses a winner at the end of the day. The Playboy account re-Tweets select images throughout the day, helping lead to more than 50k @mentions and 350k clicks on Tweeted links for the brand on Fridays.
What does this mean for your brand?
Hosting a consistent activation on Twitter is a great way to create enthusiasm for your brand and bring your followers back to your page to engage. Brands should consider what topics are relevant to the industries they operate in that they could create campaigns around. Fun, kitschy hashtags that play on typical emotions or behaviors that people are already feeling/doing usually have the greatest viral power. Do a search to see what people are saying or doing to help you get started. Rewarding your followers is another great way to drive participation.
Image: Playboy.com
Source: thenextweb.com
SXSW wrap-up: Too much
Austin was awesome as always, but too many badges distributed, and too many venues too spread apart. That’s the short of it, linked here is the somewhat longer story…
UX Smackdown: Usability Testing Techniques in the Ring
Focus Groups or Field Research? Eye Tracking or Un-Moderated Usability Testing? High Fidelity Prototypes or Rapid Iterative Testing? These were the usability testing methods panelists defended and critiqued during a session of choice: UX Smackdown: Usability Testing Techniques in the Ring. Unfortunately for me, no one came flying down through the rafters with a luchador mask and a folding chair. Small consolation: they gave us noisemakers.
@kevinhartman presents: What the London Riots Taught Us About Social Media
Here’s a great shot of a fantastic presentation from our very own @kevinhartman. Did you get a chance to see it? No? That’s okay because you can check out his slides here.
Does your Product Have a Plot?
Don’t freak out, but David Womack just encouraged me to complicate products and brands. But, before you jump out a window, he wants us to complicate emotionally through stories.
The Complexity Curve: How to Design for Simplicity
This presentation was great for a few reasons:
1. David M. Hogue, was a Ph.D. Yeah, there are a lot of intelligent people here. But, very few can claim Ph.D. discipline in their thought process.
2. The core of the presentation revolved around one of my favorite subjects: critical thinking. A process that is sometimes forgotten as we try to meet deadlines, deal with difficult individuals, or any other obstacles associated with a project.
3. Because of the critical thinking that went into the presentation. It made me think about complexity in a completely different way.
Sxsw: epic mealtime
What happens when you bring together massive amounts of food and YouTube?
Sxsw: the building blocks for indoor navigation
Yes we can connect to other rope, and we can navigate to places, but we spend 80% of our time indoors, and theres few ways to navigate inside these spaces
