Value lies in usefulness

I’ve been thinking a lot about helpfulness lately (“the property of providing useful assistance“) and therefore usefulness. I’ve also been thinking about data, context and how to draw meaning – something that infographics literally do so well. Anyway, I decided to mesh everything together into the above flowchart. In essence, everything can be useful, but as you add a layer onto each, their usefulness becomes multifaceted and well, more useful!

I believe use can be often forgotten with people unable to question the inherent usefulness of things they create or release due to sentimentality or closeness to the product. They might end up down the road of building something that lacks application and/or true purpose… the adage of finding a solution without a problem. I like how Pieter Peach gets straight to the point with any idea: “How does it change a person’s life?“. And while on this note, don’t get confused about the scope of change – you don’t need to change the world to change a person’s existence. Often the most valuable changes are those that are subtle. Make a small positive difference.

If you bring it back to marketing, which on a base level, involves some sort of value exchange – you can see that the more useful you make a product (i.e. how indisposable it is to a person), the greater the exchange will be in the long run (can be non-monetary).

Provide as much value by being as useful/helpful as possible, and the reward will come…

I am, you are, we are information sponges…

My Foursquare infographics

Foursquare has some great stats associate with each user account that summarise your check-ins within a certain time frame. The data curation is inspired by the Nicholas Felton “school of design” (his personal annual reports are worth the read). Anyway, I’ve included my info below as an example (click each image for a higher resolution). The ability to display the data accrued (in this case from the past month) provides a nice insight and I think that more social platforms should offer the same functionality. Obviously the level and breadth of sophistication of the analysis isn’t as nifty as what external providers might provide, but it is certainly a useful tool for the average user.

I’m http://foursquare.com/user/katekendall on the platform, although I’m currently only using it for people I’ve met face-to-face a few times or know well.  Promoting your location is something that I feel is incredibly intimate and as a result involves a large amount of shared trust in any relationship. I’m placing it above Facebook in terms of tightness of connections, but that’s probably the cynical ex-journo in me used to running from PRs! That said, I don’t mind sharing my stats here as I use Foursquare mostly during the week when I’m out and about in South Melbourne around the Niche offices, so it’s a no brainer to put two and two together and assume I would be nearby.

It’s quite ironic though, because even if someone was in the area, I probably wouldn’t have the chance to drop what I was doing for an impromptu meetup! (I prefer to schedule industry-related meetups!)

What do your infographics look like?

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