Over a year ago in a blog post I discussed what makes a great user interface. I questioned Facebook’s big interface switch and I held up Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn to its standard. Looking back, everything I discussed feels relevant but also somehow remarkably out of date.
When I surf the web now I’m not just thinking about interface, I’m conscious of my experience. I think this subtle shift in terminology captures the gradual evolution of the web towards fun, user friendly spaces that encourage collaboration and community.
I found this user experience Honeycomb on Flickr. There are probably a lot of different matrixes to try and explain the new user experience phenomenon, but I think it comes down to one factor: resonances with our daily lives.
The “Machine is us†video taught us that users drive and therefore are the content of the web. If anything has changed its that now the user driven experience of online platforms, tools and methods of communication are fostering change in our real life experiences too. Social media has connected people online in an incredible way – real people, real issues, real-time. What happens on the Internet is a product of our lived experiences, and in turn our activities online ripple outward into the world.
So, what I think about now is what the next generation of user experience innovation will be. Videos, blogs and streams of updates are currently giving websites a tangible, interactive look and feel. Its not just click-ability and interest-factors that are providing value any more, its spaces that foster conversations and that appeal to the relevance of user’s everyday lives.
Now that we, the general public, are more in control of how web giants generate user interface and experience simply through the communication of our wants and needs – where do you think our passion for dialogue and engagement will lead the web?
I want to think about this question and write about websites currently providing unparalleled user experience, and then brainstorm about the kind of experience I’d love to see created online in the future.
Image Courtesy of Flickr user A-dit-ya. I love Creative Commons licensing. 
