After reading the Grudin and Orlikowski articles this week, I think I would be much more capable of writing a useful Facebook handbook for 40-60 year olds. In tackling this projec, I would first examine the Facebook technologies that are similar to things that age demographic would be familiar with. Their existing technological frames may cause 40-60 year olds to use Facebook messaging as an alternative to email, the photo features as an alternative to online photo galleries like flickr and webshots and facebook chat as an alternative to IM. These technologies all help link people to their immediate social networks, and thus they may limit themselves to allowing Facebook to do the same. Therefore, one of the first things I would stress in both the communication of Facebook information and the training (the two things that Orlikowski discusses in being useful to overcoming technological frames), would be that Facebook is useful for connecting you to people that you may not already be in constant communication with. I could in turn link this concept to the idea that the time a user spends using Facebook will be compensated for by an increase in his social network. Grudin also suggests that people want evidence that they’re actually getting a good return on their investment, so I would probably try and do some studies to gather research that could support the hypothesis of Facebook’s social network enlarging properties.
I also think it would be important for people to see that Facebook is indeed a collaborative tool. Therefore in training I might attempt to train several people at once and have them work together, showing them how Facebook is successful in connecting two or more people. Orlikowski says that “where structural properties support shared effort, cooperation and collaboration, it is likely that the technology will be used collaboratively.” By training people in groups, I think they would get a stronger idea of Facebook as a tool that joins people together rather than as just an individual oriented technology.
Finally, I think the training and discussion of the tool should also place a strong emphasis on Facebook unique features such as the wall application, groups and events. This would help users to see why Facebook is useful as more than just an email/photos/IM alternative and let them have a better understanding of the tool as a whole.
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Orlikowsiki also mentions how training emphasizes what features of the new technology are different than the technology the users are already familiar with. How do you plan to explain the certain attributes of Facebook that are completely unique and may/may not have a social comparison?
ReplyDeleteYou also didn't mention the reward that Facebook will provide. In your opinion, what should this manual emphasize when it comes to this age demographic and rewards?
It's good that you pointed out the fact that a bigger seller about Facebook is that you are connected to people you don't see everyday. The people that we generally email are the people we come in contact with daily or see more often than high school reunions. This is a new feature to many people, and this would definitely produce a greater ROI than simply using email.
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