I’d like to inform you that by reading this blog you are actively involved in a unique social experience that fits in a much larger social experience lifecycle process of your digital web activity.

Got it? Cool.

Now, there are two natural questions that may arise from the above aforementioned phraseology:

1. What the heck is the “Social Experience Lifecycle?”
2. Is it important that I know about the “Social Experience Lifecycle?”

And after those two questions are answered you’ll eventually ask these two questions:

1. Awesome. So, now what do I do with this process?
2. Sweet. Now how do I get the process to “work” with what I’m trying to accomplish?

All these will be answered if you read on…! Ready? Let’s begin.

The Social Experience Lifecycle

In a nutshell, the Social Experience Lifecycle is the process by which an internet user engages in social media websites. From a software and development perspective it can also describe how the user progresses through your particular web application.

Take a look at this chart I built in LovelyCharts.com. [Click to Enlarge!]

This chart is pretty straightforward, but I’ll spend a little bit of time explaining it below.

Do I Need to Know About This?

Yes.

You need to know this even if you don’t build applications or software. The above chart can help you better understand how the user thinks and their process by which they acclimate to the experience that you’re attempting to provide them, even if it’s just a blog.

I use this all the time in my product development psychology and planning from blogs to enterprise applications.

Ok, So Now What?

First is to understand the process. Here’s a brief explanation of the process. The “quotes” describe the user:

1. The user is completely ignorant of your application, your software, or your blog.
2. The user is aware of your application, software, or your blog.
3. The user explores your application, software, or your blog and decides to “join” or explore it further.
4. The user likes what they see and begins to use the application, software, or reads your blog consistently.
5. The user loves the application, piece of software, or your blog and becomes a fanatic.

The “labels” below describe the hurdles, issues, and/or strategies to get the user to the next step in the process:

1. One of the biggest issues with your software or blog is not that it sucks, but that it’s awesome and no one can find it or no one knows about it. So, the challenge is making the users out there (and there are millions) aware of it. This is the “awareness” hurdle and challenge.
2. The next hurdle is creating an experience that is so good that the user “buys in” to it and simply begins to spend time on the site or blog and uses the application. The challenge here is creating that “good experience” that gets them to take the next step into a user that “explores” your web property.
3. The next challenge is making the visitor a consistent user of your application or reader of your blog. Is your application or software or blog a “fire and forget” type of deal? Is it a one-time-thing, good for only one-go-round? How do you get them to keep coming back?
4. Finally, the next hurdle or challenge is to get them so involved, so enthused, so engaged with the software or application that they form an attachment, often times emotional in nature. How do you change or transform average users, consistently using your software or reading your blog into utter and complete fanatics?

Wow! So How Do I Put This Process to “Work?”

This is where you come in to the picture, and it’s a great question and the answer changes for each individual developer or crafter of experience. How you put this process to “work” or how you’re going to take advantage and leverage this process will be different.

There are a number of strategies that one could employ. Perhaps taking a look at the 7 Elements of a Successful Social Network Series?

1. Ownership and User Customization
2. Getting and Giving Feedback
3. Exchanges and Gifting
4. Collecting Things
5. Earning Points
6. Competition
7. Christ

Start there. And let’s begin the conversation!