Modern Talk

What is your mental model for conversations these days?

I like the imagery of words associated with online conversations — thread, feed, stream.

Might be a stretch, but they coincide with how modern conversations have so much more continuity.

Pardon my sad drawing of a fish. And even sadder attempt to draw a stick person.

Going back to the time of the letter, or even landline phones, there were so may more “pauses”.

Conversations actually ended. You parted verbal ways, before you warmed them up again.

Are you part of a Facebook group? Or message thread? Do you still say “goodbye” to everyone after throwing in your thoughts?

Today’s conversations are always on — you can pipe in anytime.

In a way, conversations have technically always been like that. It’s just enabled (and visualized) to be continuous now. You could literally talk all day with a lot of people you aren’t physically with.

You can even consciously and visibly leave and join conversations. And have a digital trail to show for it.

Chatrooms, forums and gaming threads started it years ago. But Facebook, chat apps and today’s Internet reach have brought it to such a broad level. The channels with which you can talk in and out of all day are so diverse.

My mental model for how conversations stop and go. And how they evolved over time.

I sometimes find myself talking to a friend through Facebook Messenger, iMessage, a group Messenger thread, a Facebook post and on an Instagram post, all in one afternoon. And I’m not even digitally on-trend enough to be on Snapchat.

It’s such a rich space, if you’re a social or cognitive psychologist. Or for analysts and experience designers, like me. Makes you think of what people’s mental models are like, regarding conversations and information streams.

Anyone want to work on that? That’ll be interesting to do. How would you picture or depict how your current conversations? Are your “circles of influence” more complex now because of the format, app and website options, or just the same?

And, if you’re a brand manager or business owner, I guess the question is: “How do I make money off of this? How do I make our brand matter in these spaces?”

Ben Brown, whose team creates apps for Slack (apps within apps!) has a smart post on how messaging will be the new “interface” for programs. Where he drops the phrase “MXD”. Or “Messaging Experience Design”*.

*In the spirit of “[Insert initial/s of any sort of entity] XD” (You know — “UXD”, “CXD”, and whichever crops up next. My teammates and I particularly believe in BXD. Business Experience Design. Not even kidding.)

Slack is the Operating System

Follow me here on Medium, or on Twitter, for straight-talking, practical stories about how to plan, execute and analyze design research. Message me if ever you want to work together.