Engagement Design

User Generated Content, viral content, and passionate social communities all seem ripe for monetization, but so far few companies have been able to do this well.

This fall is shaping up to see a renewed interest in tackling this problem. YouTube is hiring monetization designers, Pure Verticals got some great press in San Francisco Magazine, Adify has widgets as does SproutBuilder, and ShareThrough is looking to make a play, and it seems others are thinking it over as well. So what will make the difference between an interesting idea and success?

What are the barriers to success and what are the opportunities?

I believe the answer to both questions lies in user experience. Like being a good friend or expert conversationalist, social media requires listening to the user, who is both the customer and the audience, and respecting their pleasure; interrupting their enjoyment is a sure way to lose engagement.

The design, experience, messaging and targeted monetization all need to integrate with the user's pleasure, rather than destroy it.

Just as Google first got traction with their brutally simple (and ingenious) simplified homepage for search, the UI/UX does more than set the tone, it is the entire conversation.