Beating those early adopter blues

Uh-oh. There’s trouble over on FriendFeed. Hailed lately as one of the hottest new technologies to come out of Silicon Valley, the service has been gaining more and more momentum– and dedicated users– day after day. But is the hype about to come to an end?

Lately, murmurings among high-profile FriendFeed users have swept through the blogosphere: social media blogger Kyle Lacy wrote a post in which he admitted, “I’ve [been] burned out on the overload of constant use for a month.” Robert Scoble, sharing this article with his contacts, agreed: “I’ve noticed I’m getting tired of it too.” Putting two and two together, the ingenious Sarah Perez over at Read/Write Web added to the discussion with a great article today entitled, “FriendFeed: hotter than ever or starting to fade?” Preliminary polls, unfortunately for the service, suggest interest might be waning.

Is losing interest in our nature?

Why does the early adopter set lose interest so quickly? Expert blogger Louis Gray proposes a framework called The Five Stages of Early Adopter Behavior to explain the hype to disinterest cycle. It’s a great theory and definitely worth the read; according to Louis, individuals go from discovering, promoting, and engaging with social media services, all positive behaviors, to a sense of entitlement and eventual migration, negative results.

Many studies have shown that self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation are intimately linked with interest.

Not only does this framework observationally hold, but a similar model is supported by psychological and sociological research, as well; many studies have shown that self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation are intimately linked with interest. To put it simply, having the ‘early adopter personality’ means that we’re less likely to be interested in a service or technology once it’s not difficult to keep up with it anymore.

Solutions to prevent entitlement and migration

So what can we do to maintain social network nirvana, as Plurk aptly puts it? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Keep things fresh. Just because a service has existed for three months doesn’t mean it needs to get stale. Do whatever it takes to get a new perspective on things: follow new people, engage in different discussions, broadcast in a different manner. Imagine yourself through the eyes of your online contacts. Who do they think you are? Challenge their expectations, and you’ll shake up your experience.
2. Start over. This may be the nuclear option, but sometimes it’s the only choice: put your primary account on permanent leave and approach the community with a clean slate. This sort of strategy seems to be popular on FriendFeed, recently, for instance.
3. Take a break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the same holds true for social networks. Perhaps after taking a week or two off you’ll find the community you’ve missed is more valuable than you thought.
4. Innovate. If you find a particular social network getting stale, maybe you’re getting crusty, not the service. As an early adopter, you have a love of all things new, spontaneous, and creative. Apply these abilities within a preexisting sphere instead of taking your talents elsewhere. Instead of building a sandcastle, build a sand space station.
5. Quit. End your love affair by deleting your account entirely, but here’s the thing: instead of jumping onboard the next biggest and brightest, spend time with an older social network. Maybe you’ll be surprised to see how it’s come along.

Do you have any other recommendations?

Are the blues so bad?

Some might argue that losing interest isn’t such a bad thing. Louis Gray, when asked jokingly if there was a ‘12-step program’ for fighting these behaviors, responded, “If there is, I certainly don’t have any intentions of attending. I like this process. It’s just worth knowing where you are in that process. Self-awareness is key.”

I’m not sold that this is necessarily beneficial behavior, though. Losing interest may spur one on to the new leading edge, but it also builds a reputation with friends, followers, and contacts of instability, unpredictability, and unreliableness. I’d recommend being careful to keep these side effects in check.

All in all, a twinge of boredom or dissatisfaction need not be a sign to immediately jump ship. Instead, just like in a troubled romantic relationship, sometimes it’s best just to work things out.

Enjoy this article? Please subscribe to andydesoto.com!

1. A FriendFeed tipping point? If anyone can draw thousands of users to a new web service, it's a guy like Kevin Rose. Universally (and...
2. Social network pruning heuristic #2: Eliminate cross-posters Fortunately, the solution is simple, albeit time-consuming: take a few minutes to unfollow any individuals that repeatedly send the exact...
3. Friend conversion ratios and opt-in aggregators Services like FriendFeed that requires signing up for an additional account are not practical. The future lies in aggregators that...