Power to the People: User Feedback Driving Success

Consumers are creating their own products.

It sure seems like mega-successful Internet companies have found the seemingly simple answer to reaching the top of digital media; implementing user feedback. Adweek released its Digital Hot List 2009 a couple of weeks ago, with Facebook and Twitter ranking No. 1 and No. 3 respectively, largely in part to them paying attention to what their users are suggesting. As reported in The Times Twitter has added List and Retweet features to the site, both of which are user-generated features. Retweeting has been such a fundamental part of using Twitter for so long that it’s hard to believe it was totally created by users. In the age of massive amounts of available information it only makes sense for successful web-based companies to do exactly what their users want them to do and in the future it will be almost unacceptable not to.

Why try to think ahead of the trends and anticipate user demand when it’s possible to simply implement user ideas as they think of them? Take Google for example: the online giant fell from No. 1 on the Hot List last year to No. 4 this year, losing its top spot to Facebook because its algorithms aren’t people-powered like Facebook’s are.  A couple of years ago it would have been hard to predict that Facebook would be the hottest campus in Mountain View, but expanding to allow anyone on the site was clearly a great move. One thing is clear if you’re trying to succeed online, listen to the users. Power to the people!

–Teddy Boxberger, MMS Moderator