At Realise we understand the value of ownership. The pride someone can have in possessing something. What strength a product can have when people feel so strongly about it that is causes an emotional reaction.
A few things in the last week have had such a strong impact, and I think we can safely say they have been some of the biggest stories in the world, holding their own against some much more critical and significant news-worthy subjects.
The first I knew about the Facebook change was viewing my updates on my iPhone application. Ironically the Facebook application on my phone hadn’t changed, so I was reading everybody’s reaction to this ‘horrific’ change to the layout of the Facebook pages on my perfectly old-style layout.
I checked the screen the next day and sure enough the whole layout had changed, and the functionality. Although I found it clunky and a little confusing, it seemed the whole of Facebook was in turmoil. Every status complaining about how clumsy it was; how hard to follow, hard to justify why they had done the changes when no one wanted them etc etc
What immediately struck me was that this was a reaction that was so emotional and so angry. Facebook now includes over a tenth of the global population, with nearly 200 million unique users every month. Yet its completely free. What other free service in the world do we get so angry about? Every part of our lives is paid for, whether it’s via taxes, our salary or even our charitable donations. Yet with Facebook, they have created something so emotionally involving and something that feels such a natural extension of our lives that we get physically upset when it gets changed.
Facebook came into our lives only 7 short years ago, and personally I joined the network around 4 years ago. In that time I have laughed at the suggestion that one day I would do all my chats and messaging on Facebook, and that I’d ever be friends with people that I didnt know for less than 6 months. Now I never email friends, only ever chatting on Facebook via comments, messaging or chat, and I regularly accept friendships from friends of friends who I chatted to for 30 seconds whilst washing our hands in the gents!
Facebook is an extension of our ‘want’ for popularity. In most cases it panders to our want for attention as human beings. It says look at me…this is what I’m doing…..isn’t it fabulous. This is the side that most Facebook users would deny, but is clear to see when they continually publish who and what they are doing every 3 hours. But humans by their nature are very nosy. In fact the animal instinct is to watch, observe, and protect. Facebook helps this instinct, and therefore by default makes us feel secure and safe in many ways. It helps us promote our own life, and attract ‘friends’ to make us feel better, and it helps us feel protected, by letting us have our own secure bubble of ‘us’ – our profile.
For this reason, we feel a knee-jerk reaction to when things change. Whilst Facebook isn’t ours, because we haven’t paid for it, our Facebook ‘page’ is our own space, and we fall into a false sense of security, because we customise it to feel like our virtual home. We feel like no one can touch it. Every now and again though, they DO.
Every time Facebook makes a change, almost uniformly it’s users are up in arms, because something that felt so sacrosanct has been affected. Something that felt personal and private, but yet so public has been changed, and without consultation. It’s strange in that we go on Facebook to communicate with others, but because our page represents our life that we are choosing to expose in ways we wouldnt have wanted to 10 years ago, when the control we felt we had is affected, we start to panic and get emotional.
Personally I can’t clearly remember what the old Facebook page looked like, but I now must admit I like the new layout. What I do know is that Facebook, much like Apple, have created a ‘pre-emptive’ style of design. Much like the iPhone, Facebook gave us something we didn’t really know we wanted. 20 years ago Apple launched their Newton. We didn’t want it, and whilst Apple knew they were onto something, the public really didnt understand why there was a need, and the chance was lost. Now the circle has come around, and with the completion of the internet and the connection it gives us, the understanding of why exactly a gadget that clearly evolved from the Newton is important is apparent. A device that covers our work and social pattern. Something that helps us remain intouch whilst fulfilling so many of our other daily duties and desires.
Facebook pre-empted our hunger for more information about other people with it’s introduction of the ‘ticka-tape’ margin on the right hand side. Facebook came from our hunger for knowledge about people, and our chance in the spotlight. We want to be sure we are doing the right thing, and are accepted, and acknowledged as successful, and Facebook has second-guessed our behaviours every step of the way, including this recent development. It had obviously noted our ever-increasing habit to comment and nosey our way around our ‘friends’ movements on the network, and knew we’d love an ever-changing and ever-updating feature that we can keep an eye on whilst doing everything else on Facebook. The users of Facebook didn’t however understand this bonus, but admitedly, most are now agreeing that they find the change Facebook made recently a helpful one.
Now Apple have launched their latest incarnation of the iPhone, and two things have happened. Firstly people are in uproar because it isn’t an iPhone 5, but an iPhone 4S, and secondly people are rushing out to swop their ‘old’ iPhone 4 for the new version. Apple fans feel it is their right to have a new completely revamped iPhone 5. They feel angry that Apple have copped out of a full update, when barely 12 months ago the new iPhone 4 was launched. What’s the problem? Nobody complained to Sony when they rolled out yet another Vega TV, or when Blackberry repackaged the same old phone with a new silver casing and some extra buttons. Apple consumers feel they are owed a constantly evolving, updating product. It’s not even 5 years old, and yet its customers feel it’s their ‘right’ to have a new version regularly, with new features, new apps options, better camera, better video, better battery life. They must have the latest version, even though its cost is so inhibitive to most people’s sensibility. However, there are now nearly 100 million iphones in the world, and that number is growing. The product has become the consumer. The two are intertwined the moment the product and the owner’s life become so interwoven and adaptable to that person’s life. By default this makes the owner feel it is their right to have better and better of the same. We’ve become spoilt little brats who demand more from those who have teased us with these wondrous new toys, and we are addicted and sold!
The key of course is in the ownership. Apple, like Facebook, have something genius in their creations. They have built in a customisable, emotive, bespoke styling to their products. The consumer feels considered, excited and more importantly enlightened. The consumers are given the chance to make a product that is so inventive and clever (like the iPhone) their very own. In essence, the iPhone and Facebook are our tools for life. They can help with work and play. They can support every element of our lives if we want them to, and most users do just that. Their lives often hinge on both of these products. Their social life, work life, play, friendships. Everything is interwoven, and we are completely absorbed into these worlds, by making them our own. We feel like we own them, but in a twisted ironic and scary sense, they own us completely.
I once mentioned to a massive Facebook fan that Mark Zuckerberg could switch off Facebook tomorrow. Clearly he’d be mad to, having amassed a wealth of nearly $20 billion from the site in such a short time! However its his company, and he can do whatever he likes within reason, albeit he’d have a lot to answer to the investors! My friend panicked and argued that its not possible. An irrational response, and an emotive one. People have their whole lives on their iPhones and on Facebook. They do this because the products encourage them to become engaged. They call out to everything we find natural in modern day living. The products have been created and are being evolved to sit perfectly with our life’s needs. Easy and seamless.
Creating a perfect product is not always about fulfilling a need. It’s creating a want. Apple and Mark Zuckerberg have generated a passion for their product in split seconds. No other products have come close in recent history, and few have had the same emotive response, ever.
Having the foresight, the talent, and the skill to create something that can get that kind of response from the market place is a gift. A great designer and a great mind can ignite that magic flame. We are always looking for great minds to work with our great designers. Have you got the next iPhone or Facebook in your head? Get in touch…we’re waiting.
