Network Effect within Design

I'd like to talk a bit about network effect and it's place within design. Technology has made the world closer and more connected than ever before, and as designers we need to be well aware of network effect and how it can make or break a product. Network effect is the value adding properties a user can add to a good or service. For example one of the most basic examples of network effect are telephones; a telephone is only useful if you can call someone who also has a telephone. Facebook's attractiveness to a prospective user is it's extensive network of people he or she may know. Some of my favorite websites take advantage of this network effect.

One of my favorite sites for news is reddit.com, it's a user generated news site in which users post links to news articles or funny tidbits from the internet. Users then vote these posts up or down and they are placed on the website in accordance to their popularity. Its amazing how much content is posted, as well as how fast breaking news finds itself on the front page. All of this is done without paying a single reporter or cameraman, its a prime example of taking advantage of network effect. Another website that I love to visit is hypem.com. Hype Machine is an aggregation website that scours through popular music blogs. Users can listen to mp3's through an embedded player and likewise to reddit, can upvote or downvote the songs. Through this website I've been able to find great new artists and remixes without any real effort on my part.

The difficulty in taking advantage of this network effect is getting the network started in the first place. How can we design products and services to reach this critical mass or tipping point where network effect can be realized? This is were early adopters are incredibly important. One can achieve this externally through promotions, advertisement, and early adoption incentives. However the most effective way to gain critical mass is to produce something of value even without the network effect. Perhaps the service or product is not as powerful without the network, but keep in mind to design aspects of the product that are valuable while in solidarity to entice early adopters. If you can design these solitary features exceptionally well, then early adopters will follow and generate the needed buzz towards critical mass.

Biomimicry

I believe that some of the best designs are directly inspired by nature. Whether you believe these natural phenomenon were perfected through evolution or by a higher intelligence, we can agree that the innovations found in nature are often incredibly elegant as well as aesthetically pleasing. There are many examples of biomimicry, here are some of my favorites:

Velcro
Invented by a Swiss Engineer after becoming inspired by the seeds of the Burdock plant that kept sticking to his clothing and his dog's fur during a hunting trip. He took this natural design for fertilization and made the fastener that we all use daily.

Lotusan Paint
This paint is incredibly hydrophobic, which allows rain water to instantly bead off and wipe away dirt and grime that has accumulated on the surface, saving cleaning costs. This paint was inspired by the lotus plant which has a surface texture that causes water to bead and flow to the roots of the plant.

Mirasol Displays
As mentioned in class, these energy efficient displays mimic the reflective qualities of butterflies and their beautiful multi-colored wings.

Bucket Brigades
The natural assembly line of ants and bees. How do they achieve such high work efficiency and balance without an actual plan or blueprint? Their natural assembly line can be described like the bucket bridges used to fight fires. The workers line up from slowest to fastest, in which each worker works on their task until completion or they are relieved by the next worker, in which they move back and relieve the previous worker. This natural phenomenon has been implemented in many distribution centers such as CVS which saw a 34% increase in productivity after utilizing the system. In my opinion, Chipotle also uses a simplified version of the assembly line, which is how I get my tasty burritos so fast!

Post some other good examples of biomimicry!

Google's China Concerns

Yesterday, Google posted an announcement on their blog that sent ripples throughout the tech world with far reach implications into areas such as politics and finance. The blog post informed the public that Google had been the victim of an organized cyber attack originating from China. Their investigation revealed that they were not alone in this attack but around 20 companies were victims in the breach. Google stated that the evidence shows the perpetrators were interested in accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. While Google does not explicitly state that this attack was coordinated by the Chinese government, the blog post makes Google's perspective on the matter quite clear. Google has decided to stop the censorship search results on Google.cn, a compromise which was previously made to the Chinese government in order to operate in China. In the post, Google states that it is well aware that this action may mean having to shutdown Google.cn and its offices in China, which represents the world's largest population of internet users. After the news the stock of Baidu, Google's biggest competitor in China, went up 7% in after hours trading, while Google's stock fell around 2%.

What do you guys think about this news? On one hand Google pushes forward modern corporate responsibility in sticking to the "Do No Evil" motto. But then again Google may lose a substantial source of internet users. Which is the greater evil for the citizens of China, the censorship of search results, or internet accessibility without Google.cn?


The actual Google blog post can be located here:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html