DISQUS

drew: drew olanoff dot com. - Ok, that's it. The next time I hear the word "User"...

  • Ardith · 1 year ago
    I'm fine with "guests" or "members" for web sites, blogs, and other things that people "come to", but people don't come to apps - they use them.
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    I hear what you're saying, but can you absolutely say that every person who comes to sign up for an app "uses" it?

    What's the definition of "use"? That they're active? There's tons of non-active guests on Twitter. Some never even sign up!
  • Jeremiah Owyang · 1 year ago
    Members is a better word
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    I have to disagree with you on this one. A member denotes that you're a part of some fan club cult. A member means that you've invested more than just visiting to a website or app.

    I don't assume that every guest who comes to ReadBurner considers themselves a member.

    That's something I would allow the community to define by itself.
  • Abner Diaz · 1 year ago
    i don't want to be someone's 'member'.

    perhaps 'uncommitted passer-by'.
  • Steve Woodruff · 1 year ago
    And the other demeaning term is "consumer." I hate that. I'm a thinking, deciding, networking being, not a consumption unit. Blecch!
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    Exactly. We need to break out of all of this and start showing respect where respect is due.
  • haveboard · 1 year ago
    I don't think I've ever thought about it like that. I use the word "audience", but I'm not sure if I frequently say "user" over "guest". Regardless, I'm backing this, and will do my best to catch myself, whenever I do start to say "user".
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    I have had meetings where I've kicked and screamed about this, and I get shot down every single time.

    Everything has to be so sterile and technical. Enough.

    If someone has a better phrase or one that works for them, they should use it!

    The death of the term user must come.
  • PurpleCar · 1 year ago
    FANTASTIC! HEAR, HEAR! I'd send up a 'w00t!' right now but that's so 2007...

    Anyway, I love your point, I never thought about it, and you're absolutely right! It's amazing some stupid internet SEO marketer spammer hasn't come up with 'guest' before you. They only see cUStomERS.

    Rawk!
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    w00t is a forever term hehe.

    Bottom line is this. You want "users", then knock yourself out. I want guests, because guests are good people who keep coming back and if you make them feel welcome, they'll support you through thick and thin.
  • Craig Ritchie · 1 year ago
    I can't say I agree with this. In a way, I see the point, but I use the term 'Guest' to distinguish the visitors/first-timers/browsers from 'Logged-in' users or members.

    Although, if you had that big ol' needle in the room with me and told me not to use the word anymore, I probably wouldn't.
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    Too technical Craig, we're talking in geek speak with that. People who visit sites or apps don't think of themselves as a "unique" or a "first time". You have to think in real terms to interact with a community of awesome people who care enough to sign up or chill out with your work.
  • Craig Ritchie · 1 year ago
    Ah, I think we're in agreement. I thought you meant referring to users during planning sessions, not the nomenclature actually on a site or app... yeah, 'Guest' is best...
  • Vedo · 1 year ago
    This takes me back to my days in the service industry as bartender and waiter - the best restaurants/bars that I've had the pleasure of working in or being in treated people as "guests" instead of a herd of cattle. My guess is that people who disagree with the elimination of "user" never worked in the service industry (or if they did, they were not very successful).
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    Exactly. We're ALL in the service industry in many ways.

    If you don't take care of your guests, they won't come back. Simple as that. So if you're serving a screwdriver or a new feature on a web app, it's the same thing.

    You nailed it with this.
  • Miguel Sepulveda · 1 year ago
    The term should define what it intends to define. A "guest" that "uses" the applications or products you provide is a "user". "A rose by any other name still smells as sweet." Certainly you see that a person who uses an application is not the same as a "visitor" on your website, nor a guest at your wedding. Even though in the customer sservice sense it makes sense to treat your customers as guests, it deos not change the fact that they are "customers". Meaning they are paying you to treat them as well as you would treat a guest in your home. What would happen if that "guest" stopped paying for your service?
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    I'm speaking mostly about web apps and other things that don't always cost money. A company like Blip.tv, who has a pro account, treats Pro and non pro folks alike. Same quick service, same response time. I'm seeking a shift in how we treat people on the web. Just because it's tech it's not all numbers.
  • intevix · 1 year ago
    We refer to "users" and I agree, it's an ugly impersonal term...we call people, Participants, since they are participating in the conversation (especially in Social Media) but the conversation they're having with your company or organization...Participant implies engagement and action.

    Users is just an old IT/programmer way of thinking...can you say ForTran?
  • drewolanoff · 1 year ago
    Right, sometimes people aren't participants. They come and hang out, don't upload or share, which is great. Because an ecosystem needs all types of folks to make it go.

    There's creators, sharers, and viewers.
  • Brian · 1 year ago
    I understand your opposition to the term, but I don't think its use, at least on the web, is meant to dehumanize those people using a web app. In the circles of good user experience designers, the term serves as a reminder that someone will actually be *using* what we make and that the way it works will impact that someone.

    I also think that stuffy suited types probably use even less human words.