How do we make the online world less intimidating?

I was struck today by something a friend said to me today about finding the idea of posting on a social network intimidating. I realised that it is a rather intimidating thing to do, to write a blog, comment on a post or even tweet for the first time.

I suppose that joining any kind of online community/social network isn’t altogether different from joining an adult education class or enrolling at a college or university. Many people find this really intimidating, particularly if they have had a bad experience in the past.

I think there is also something of a difference between introverts and extroverts. I’m an extrovert and that means that I have a big enough ego that I think people might actually care about what I’m doing or saying online! In group situations I’m often the first to speak up or start a conversation. Therefore, when I join a social network I’ll be the one setting up groups and blogs and a profile picture before anyone else! My husband, on the other hand, is an introvert. I’ve just persuaded him to join Twitter as he is often saying such witty things that are perfect for a 140 character limit. I’m constantly having to say to him ‘why don’t you tweet that?’ and his first response is, ‘who will care, who will read it?’. So I do have something of a theory that there are probably more natural extroverts than introverts using such sites as Twitter and Facebook (this is a guess and I could be completely wrong)!

On the upside, it is clear that digital technologies can actually enable those who do not usually speak up in social groups to have a voice. For example, Twitter has been used in lectures in universities to enable group discussion in large groups of c.90 students. The quieter students are heard just as much as the loud ones when the discussion is directed through Twitter (http://tinyurl.com/twitHE). This has fantastic implications for promoting equality and diversity.

So how do we go about encouraging people to contribute in online networks and communities? I think we have much to learn from the way informal adult educators work and make learning institutions friendly spaces and also the understanding most of us have of how to conduct small group discussions.

Some simple things are already demonstrated by the online tools we use which show that the network is friendly. For example, I like the feature on Twitter when, as you’ve uploaded your profile picture, the text ‘that’s a nice picture’ pops up. This contributes to a warm feeling that the world of Twitter is a good place to be. On MySpace, everyone gets ‘Tom’ as their first friend, reminding me of a ‘guardian angel’ scheme we had at my high school, where second years would show first years to their classes for the first couple of weeks of the school year! Facebook makes introductions easy and identifies people you might know already that you can add as a friend.

So, how do we, the users, make the online world less intimidating? On Twitter, we have the wonderful device of the RT and the @ reply – I still get thrilled (ok, that’s a bit sad but true!) when someone retweets what I have said. Once it’s happened a couple of times your confidence is built and you’re ready to share more. On social networks, just as you would if you had a new classmate, it’s worth seeing who’s new and sending them an encouraging welcome note, or giving positive feedback on a posting.

Try and remember what it felt like the first time you posted online, remember that those people we are desperate to see engage with technology will have all the same hang ups you used to have, and more. Possibly they’ve had a bad experience with technology in the past – something not working for them or their computer crashing. Perhaps they’ve heard terrible rumours about people losing jobs over what they’ve said online which puts them off saying anything at all. Perhaps they just don’t like the idea of promoting themselves and their opinions to anyone other than their close friends.

It was a salutary reminder from my friend today. It is all too easy for us technophiles to forget how scary the online world can appear to the outsider. We need to do all we can to promote to people what a friendly place the online world really is!