28 June 2011

So this application is your friend?

Another human trait is to give things human attributes. So let's anthropomorphize a bit. Can applications be happy, grumpy, authoritative, lazy, reliable, fickly, cruel, stupid, intuitive, responsive, sexy? Sure they can. Think about it. Now we've elevated applications to a near human level, lets develop a relationship with them. Your relationship with an application will probably go through a lifecycle something like this.

 

·         Anticipation – you're looking forward to getting the app or being authorized to use it

·         Disappointment – Too high expectations

·         Resignation – Guess you'd better get used to it

·         Acclimatization – It's not that bad after all

·         Frustration – It's habits are annoying me more and more

·         Alienation – The thrill has gone

 

Seeing as all relationships seem to come with a 'best before date', it'll probably end up ugly.

 

So now we've established that users have a relationship with apps, why not formalize it by liking and friending  the app? Or disliking or unfriending? And why not tweet your app? Post cool pics on your app's wall.