From time to time, my Facebook News Feeds tell me that my friend Belinda is uploading new pictures to her Flickr pro account. It’s a pretty nifty feature and I do enjoy Belinda’s photography. I’m also a Flickr Pro (their paid service) user since they seem to do a better job of managing photos than other sites. Connecting the two services made good sense so I set about trying to connect my Flickr account to my Facebook. Here is the procedure I took:
- Instinctively, I went to Belinda’s FB account and looked for the application she was using to connect Flickr updates to her Facebook feed. Since the crux of social networking is to share cool things with your friends, sharing cool Facebook things should a no-brainer, right? Wrong.
- I went back to Facebook to “browse more applications”, didn’t see anything that looked like what I wanted under “Featured by Facebook” or “Applications you may like”. A category of “Apps Your Friends are Using” was also conspicuously missing.
- Giving up on Facebook, I signed into my Flickr Pro account to continue searching for the tool to connect the two services. They didn’t intend to make it easy for me either. A few (aggravating) minutes later, I gave that up too. It appears that the walls around these “walled gardens” are rather well fortified. Whether that’s by acts of omission or commission is harder to tell.
- When the obvious fails, I turned to Google. My query, “how to share Flickr photos on Facebook?” returned the typical 17,275,865 search results. The first answer they threw at me was a blog entry talking about Flickr2Facebook, which turned out not be the app I wanted. The next couple results were also off target.
- I changed my Google query to “How to upload Facebook and Flickr automatically”. The third link pointed to an app called “Facebook My Flickr” on Facebook’s website so I decided to give that a try. (It must be good since it’s on Facebook’s own site, right?) I installed the application. The installation was a single click, but the application itself had the most user-unfriendly interface I’ve seen in quite a while. I simply couldn’t get it to work.
- I glanced at the clock at it was 35 minutes since I started. That’s way longer than I’d expected to spend to figure out how to install an app on Facebook.
I think I’m pretty darn tech savvy but without a compsci degree, I can’t qualify as a real geek. Would a technie be able to figure it out faster? I had to find out. My guy has a compsci BS from Berkeley and had designed CPUs in his days so that should be enough geek-cred to figure this out. I got him to sit in front of the computer, showed him Belinda’s Facebook newsfeeds with her Flickr photo uploads, and asked him to figure out how to install the same feature on his account. I also told him I was treating it as a bit of “ethnographic research” on user experience and would be timing him.
While he was accessing his FB account, he pitched to me his intended approach to the mission, “Aren’t we talking about ‘open’ social?! I bet I’m going to find a page on how to do this on either Facebook or Flickr (I’m betting Facebook). If I need to use Google, that’s going to be real sad….” He set out with such great hopes that I almost felt bad knowing what he was going to find… 15 minutes later, he threw up his arms in exasperation, “So much for ‘open‘ social.”
With a wry smile, he said he was going to need to fall back on Google. The first search result he found was the same “Facebook My Flickr” app that I had found earlier. Here’s where he did something different. Instead of clicking the install button, he started reading up on the app, checked the submitter and looked through the feedback. He saw that I was also a user of the app and asked me if I had gotten it work. Nope. And then he had a good laugh and asked, “Did you just give your Yahoo login to a junior at the University of Houston?” Doh!
Wait a second! What junior at UH? I’m usually pretty cautious about installing apps. Given the amount of spam, phishing, and malware I come across every day, I usually check and double-check before installing any apps or widgets. In this case, I slipped. Between the frustration of not finding the information readily available on either sites and seeing that a couple friends (including Belinda and three engineers) were already using it, I thought the app must be the right one. The one-click installation also hadn’t point out that this was a third-party app and that I was potentially releasing control of my Flickr account to a third-party.
At the 25-minute point, my technie came across a Google search result which pointed to a page on Flickr’s support page (which neither of us had spotted earlier using their internal search engines). That page outlined a step-by-step process to link up the two services, both from the Flickr side and also provided the necessary link to the Facebook account setup page. The rest was easy.
So it took 30 minutes, a couple Google queries, and a comp-sci degree to enable a no-brainer functionality on Facebook! Makes you wonder what the people over at Facebook and Flickr even imagine an “open platform” to be. An open platform strategy is one that entices third-party developers to add value for your users. It’s not enough to simply ask, “Can they do it?” Whereas the current answer is, “Yes.” However, just because they can do it (e.g. by having APIs) doesn’t mean that you’ve successfully created an ecosystem that would attract the best external-driven innovation and that your users are able to take advantage of all the cool new features.
Instead, an open platform strategy needs to be holistic and considers the needs and benefits of all the stakeholders involved. For example, if you expect developers to spend their time building great apps, you need to consider how contributors can reach the users so that their work will be appreciated (and maybe even monetized). To protect the user, you need to provide mechanisms to ensure quality apps (i.e. a comment thread is not nearly enough). You also need to provide safeguards to protect users from those with malicious intent. These are just some of the basics.
Microsoft’s three decade reign over the PC industry has already demonstrated the power of open platforms. Today, social networking web services still seem to be struggling to get through the “walled garden” phase of mainstream deployment. Instead of focusing on creating the best user experience, they are busy fighting for user-share and finding annoying ways of creating “lock-in“. If past experience is any guide, once the technology becomes commonplace, users will gravitate toward the service that is friendliest to use. Let’s see which web service is actually going to put a true open-platform strategy in place to become the preferred platform for social web services innovation. Yahoo, are you listening?
PS. If I’ve piqued your interests in connecting your Flickr account to Facebook, here is the link |
开放平台,能有多开放?
Facebook上的“活动信息通报”时不时地告诉我:Belinda往她的Flickr帐户上传了一张照片。我觉得这个功能挺酷的,让我能及时地欣赏Belinda的最新摄影作品。正好我也有一个Flickr的专业帐户(Flickr的付费服务,愿意付这个费也是因为他们的确比别的图片分享网站做得好)。我觉得把Flickr跟Facebook连接起来是个挺好的主意,于是马上开始了行动。所经过的步骤如下一一:
- 理所当然地,我先来到了Belinda的Facebook页面,期望可以在这儿轻易地找到她所用的插件。既然社交网络的关键是跟朋友之间分享一切“酷”的东西,Facebook分享自己的“酷”的东西不就是拿手一绝吗?事实却并非如此。 我在Belinda的页面上刨来刨去,结果却是一无所获 。
- 我回到自己的Facebook帐号上“浏览更多功能”,在“Facebook推荐插件”以及“也许你会喜欢的插件”的目录下, 看来看去也没看到我想要的功能。此外,显而易见地,他们也缺乏一个类似“你的朋友正在使用的插件”的目录。
- 在Facebook上白白费了些时间之后, 我登录到Flickr,希望他们给我提供连接两个帐户的途径。结果证明他们也没打算让我的日子好过一点儿。折腾了几分钟,我决定另找出路。看来“围墙花园”的围墙还真不低。——很难说这是疏忽还是有意。
- 明修栈道既然不成,只能暗渡陈仓了。我求助于Google。一如既往地,针对我的问题“如何在Facebook帐户分享Flickr的照片”,Google顺手一扔,给了我一个天文数字的“查询结果”——管它们沾边儿还是不沾边儿。第一个链接是一篇谈及Flickr2Facebook的博文。看了一下,发现不是我想要的功能。接下来的几个链接都是八杆子打不着的主儿。
- 把Google查询改为“如何自动更新Flickr和Facebook?” 看到第三个链接的名字就叫“Facebook My Flickr”, 直接指向Facebook的网址,于是决定试一下。(既然在Facebook自己的网站上,应该还会不错吧。)插件安装一键就成。使用界面却是不近的近来我所见过的最不友好的一个。整了半天我就是整不明白怎么个用法。
- 看了一下时间,从我开始试着安装这个插件算起,35分钟已经过去了,远远超过我预想的在Facebook上装一个插件的时间。于是宣告此次安装活动就此告终。
虽然我自认为算是个网络技术老手,但是没有一个计算机科学的学位,我怎么也算不上个合格的技术“极客”。真正的技术“极客”是不是很快就把这事儿搞定?——我必须得给这个问题找到答案。
我LD是伯克利大学的电子工程+计算机科学专业出身、又曾设计CPU好几年,他应该算得上个“极客”了吧。我把他拉到电脑前,让他看了“活动信息通报”上关于Belinda往她的Flickr帐户上传了照片的信息,请他在他的Facebook上装上同样的功能。我告诉他这是一个关于“用户体验”的调研,整个过程将被严格计时。
在他登录Facebook的同时,他向我解释他完成此项任务的方法论:这不是“开放社交”时代嘛,因此呢,我敢打赌呢,这个插件呢,不在Flickr上就在Facebook上。不过我在Facebook上多放一点赌注……如果我需要启动Google来完成这项任务,那就未免太悲哀了…….” 他就这样信心满满地出发了,让我几乎为他感到难过。
15分钟之后,他近乎抓狂地地两手一摊…… “开放社交”?!!!
他的嘴角浮现一丝嘲讽的微笑,告诉我他也只能求助于Google了。他的第一个搜索结果把他引到了我早先安装的“Facebook My Flickr”。 他没有点击安装,而是查看了程序编写人,阅读了说明和用户反馈。同时他发现我已经下载了这个程序,就问我是不是已经启动了我想要的功能。我说没有。他笑着问我:“那你干吗把你的Yahoo 帐户信息(与我的Flickr帐户同步)提交给一个休斯顿大学的大三学生?!”
什么?!什么休斯顿大学的大三学生?!我通常对安装插件保持非常谨慎的态度。看看我们每天被多少垃圾邮件、网络诈骗、恶意软件轰炸!一般来说,在我安装插件或程序之前,我都要检查了再检查。但是我刚才竟然疏忽了!在抓狂和被误导(看到5个朋友包括Belinda和3个在硅谷工作的工程师安装了此插件的提示)之间,我以为这就是我想要找的插件。“一键安装”甚至没有提醒我这是第三方软件,安装此软件意味着我的Flickr和Facebook帐户信息可能面向第三方开放!
25分钟。我的“极客”在Google查询结果上看到了一条通往Flickr的帮助链接。(但是之前我们俩在Flickr网站上搜索的时候,都没有发现这个页面。)这个页面解说了连接两个帐户的步骤,并提供了通往Facebook相关操作界面的链接。之后的故事就很简单了…….
看来,为了安装一个简单的Facebook插件并使之运行,你需要30分钟、数次Google查询、1个计算机科学学位!你不禁疑惑在Facebook和Flickr的想像中,“开放平台”到底意味着什么。开放平台策略是吸引第三方程序编写人员为你的用户提供更多价值。可是,仅仅提出“他们(第三方程序编写人员)能行吗?”这个简单的问题远远不够。这个问题的回答是肯定的。但是他们能行并不代表你能成功创造一个激励外部开发力量持续创新、方便用户采用最新最酷功能的生态环境。
开放平台需要具备全体意识、考虑到每个利益相关者的需要和需求。比如说,如果你想要第三方程序人员花时间给你编写功能强大的插件,你最好也花点时间想清楚你能如何保证他们的作品/产品被欣赏和采用,甚至,赚点钱。而从用户的角度,你需要提供一个保障插件质量的机制(只是一个反馈信息页面远远不够)。你还需要保护你的用户,防止他们遭受恶意攻击。这些都是基本必需。
微软三十多年来一统电脑工业,身体力行地证实了开放平台的力量。今天,社交网络服务似乎仍然挣扎在主流科技曾经经历的“围墙花园”阶段。他们把更多的精力在花在抢用户、绞尽脑汁用各种招用户烦的手段“锁住”用户,而不是在提供更好的用户体验方面竞争。如果过去的经验可以借鉴,那么有一点可以肯定,那就是,一旦科技不再是稀缺资源,谁能给用户提供更友好的服务,用户就偏向谁。让我们拭目以待,看看哪个网络服务将实行真正意义的“开放平台策略”,创新社交网络服务,赢得用户的偏爱。
Yahoo, 你们在倾听用户的声音吗?
附言:读完此文之后,如果你也想同步你的Flickr和Facebook帐号,请点此链接 |