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A common, and interesting occurrence that tends to happen on social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., is the reporting of natural disaster events. Most pertinent to me, Earthquakes.

I was reminded of this tonight when perusing my Twitter stream and came across a flurry of posts around 9pm Pacific all centered on the topic of a scale 4 earthquake in the East Bay of San Francisco. First of all I knew nothing of the event. It’s not the biggest we’ve had out here by any stretch, but certainly strong enough to feel, and apparently enough to cause a ruckus on Twitter by those located around me.

And of course this isn’t the first time. It happens often, if not daily.

Now perhaps the title of this post is slightly exagerated. Could I find safety in a social network? Can Twitter save my life? Will Facebook or Myspace warn me of an impending flood? I suppose not, but the underlining idea here is the distribution of information is more than just a game. Social networking is not solely about random chit-chat and blather. It’s a concept that allows for human scale interaction and communication through the use of connected technology. It’s no different at it’s core than picking up the phone, walking to your neighbors yard, or chatting with your neighbor on an international flight.

Perhaps a slightly more apt title would be reporting through the social graph.

After reading a recent post on the blog her Nature his Nature titled “Take Your Customer To Work Day”, I couldn’t help but think about it’s similarity to the concepts of Participatory Design & Field Research all leading to an informed Design for User Experience.

In the article, author “shazell” highlights the importance of providing a level of clarity & transparency to the customer about how your business works and cares for their use of your companies products and/or services. As the article also points out, this could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the business and, of course, how the company treats their customer.

In the world of Participatory Design, much of the same is true. Its effectiveness is highly dependent on the clarity and perspective a business has towards their community of customers. If they truly care about how they serve and provide products or services for their customer, then this mode of research is incredibly effective. The basic principle is to allow the customer to have an active voice in the design of products that your company is ultimately designing for their user or consumption. The idea behind this is, from a marketing perspective, that you have the potential to limit your risk of poor market penetration.

On this same note, Field Research has many of the same effects, but almost in reverse. Field Research provides a design team the opportunity to experience how a customer uses the product or service they are designing for. Never conducted in a lab, the intent is to allow the designer (or researcher) into the daily life of the customer, essentially giving the designer the opportunity to “live the brand of the customer”.

What I find most interesting about this idea of “Take Your Customer To Work Day” is that in a few cases, this is actually happening. Take Etsy as an example. The online marketplace for all things handmade, has been building incredibly tight bonds with their buyers and sellers by inviting them into the Brooklyn headquarters to produce their goods. Pretty friendly, huh? And bringing a whole new meaning to the term “User Experience”.

And in some way, entrepreneurial gem Threadless is opening their doors to the customer party, though in a fairly different manner. The online community retailer of t-shirt designers and buyers has redefined what it means to be a company. The company has completely blurred the line between customer & consumer in a marketplace, and one might say they see themselves hardly as an intermediary, but instead, truly a participant in the community.

So in closing, as we see more and more creative uses for Social Media tools, our perspectives on the topic of User Experience evolve, finding new ways to connect to each other, and find new ways to share experiences between business & consumer.

In a recent post on the blog Church of the Customer, Jackie Huba draws a parallel between “Barkers” & “Attractors”.

Personally, I couldn’t agree more with this quick snippet of daily insight. All too often designers are asked to “Make it bigger” & “Make it louder”, and as much as these tactics work to some degree, a level of tact, poise, and quite simply, respect for the end user (customer or consumer) is the most effective long-term approach

My own experience with “Barkers” happens a bit closer to home. North Beach in San Francisco. Walk along Columbus Avenue and you’ll be accosted by any number of Barkers on your stroll. Have I been to a single restaurant fronted by a Backer in my many trips into the city by the bay? Nope. Where do I go? A little, quiet, quality spot around a quiet corner. Dark, warm, and comfortable. The noise is on the inside, coming from the crowd of diners conversing, not Barkers trying to drag me in with “Bigger” & “Louder” messages.

When designing a ad, website, brochure, or application we need consider the holistic experience we’re trying to provide our customer, as well as the context or baggage they carry with them. Tourists. They’re likely tired, hungry, and want a nice relaxing environment to reflect on the days sights, sounds, and purchases. Give them a memory equal to their experience of the day.

Where does barking ultimately leave a business. Likely attracting the wrong kind of customer. Or at least one that doesn’t interest me as a business owner. Perhaps someone like this guy or this guy. Yeah, they’re funny to look at, but you wouldn’t want to hang out with them too long!

I suppose the same goes for dogs. In particular, mine. A barking dog does not attract people, it scares them away. I wish my own dog would learn that simple rule! :)