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Sometimes A Little Friction Is A Good Thing

My latest column for New Media Age is out, in which I talk about so-called 'frictionless sharing', as characterised by the functionality built in to Facebook's recent redesign. I don't usually link to the columns I write for NMA here (perhaps I should do so more), but this one is about something I think is important.

The heading given to the piece is slightly misleading but in it I talk about the importance of defaults, and how 'frictionless sharing' changes a pretty big one – from sharing being an active process to becoming a passive one. Which has all kinds of implications that I don't think we've even started to think about. Anyone who is a fan of Behavioural Economics will appreciate the power of defaults. So I wanted to write something about it – and you can read it here.

4 responses to “Sometimes A Little Friction Is A Good Thing”

  1. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    I’m with you Neil. The less effort it takes to do anything, the less meaning it tends to have over time. And as you probably know I’m a supporter of meaning.
    Perhaps these developments will further polarise our actions; creating a stream of highly disposable sharing (or co-existing!) with pockets of more considered thought/action. Bit like micro-blogging and blogging, only more so.
    For what it’s worth, I already find myself choosing not to Retweet very worthy causes because the action is so frictionless it doesn’t ‘feel’ meaningful, even though there is a rational argument (propagation) to do so.

    Reply
  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    I’m with you Neil. The less effort it takes to do anything, the less meaning it tends to have over time. And as you probably know I’m a supporter of meaning.
    Perhaps these developments will further polarise our actions; creating a stream of highly disposable sharing (or co-existing!) with pockets of more considered thought/action. Bit like micro-blogging and blogging, only more so.
    For what it’s worth, I already find myself choosing not to Retweet very worthy causes because the action is so frictionless it doesn’t ‘feel’ meaningful, even though there is a rational argument (propagation) to do so.

    Reply
  3. neilperkin Avatar
    neilperkin

    Thanks for the thoughtful comment Andy. Nicely put about the relationship between effort and meaning and an interesting thought about pockets of more considered thought. I’ve read a few posts recently that suggest that blog readership/involvement is not what it once was – I really hope that’s not the case.

    Reply
  4. neilperkin Avatar
    neilperkin

    Thanks for the thoughtful comment Andy. Nicely put about the relationship between effort and meaning and an interesting thought about pockets of more considered thought. I’ve read a few posts recently that suggest that blog readership/involvement is not what it once was – I really hope that’s not the case.

    Reply

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