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.
