“Imagine an electronic address book that contained not only contact information, but pictures, interests, birthdays, as well as a means of communication in the form of email and instant message. This user friendly, secure, all-in-one website, known as Facebook, is the modern form of communication. When your children don’t answer your calls or respond to your emails, it’s almost guaranteed that you can contact them and keep tabs on them via Facebook.”
By comparing Facebook to an electronic address book, the user will be able to grasp the overall concept of the website and look at it as an improved technology, one that does not require brand new technological frames.
My “how-to” would be in the form of a CD that they watched and interactively learned how to use Facebook. It would begin by introducing a basic online address book, and gradually adding different capabilities one step at a time, beginning with “friending” your contacts.
“Once your contact, possibly your niece, Sarah, who is at grad school in California, accepts your “friend request”, you are given access to Sarah’s contact information, recent photos of Sarah, her favorite movies, music and much more.
Only after I have illustrated the positive return on their time, patience, and energy, and provided them with a strong technological frame, would I suggest they log on. According to Orlikowksi, without prior knowledge, exploring a “new” technology may hinder the adoption process as the user develops a weak technological frame. This is the importance of a strong frame- logging into Facebook with confidence and high hopes.
Once logged on, I would continue to hold their hand to explore the many personal benefits available to them. “Thank God for that birthday column!”
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It is Interesting that you brought up the idea of making the how to in the form of a CD especially since that generation would be most likely to know how to use CD's rather than other forms of storage devices. I would say that even without a strong technological frame after going through the demonstration, the user would be ready to use facebook especially since a user is able to do more once the interact with the web site. Another option might be having the user directly follow what is done on the cd.
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