We've been assuming that the low usage of Seed Team Talk by the team is due to the lack of a complete Inbox experience. While we do want an Inbox, building one that fully respects our local-first and decentralized principles is a significant engineering challenge. (See: Inbox)
This morning, during a conversation between Eric, Burdi, and me, we had an important realization:
Maybe what we need is a better Feed.
If we had a more substantial Feed experience, Seed Team Talk could become the place the team naturally visits to see what’s happening, like an internal Twitter stream. Mentions would still trigger emails, as they do today, but the Feed would become the primary window into the team's life.
Social Layers and Feeds
Our knowledge communities have a strong and connected social layer.
Deep social layer connection is crucial for a social media network. (See The Friendster Autopsy: How a Social Network Dies ). The social layer is vital, but it also provides publishers with a way to monetize their content.
Inbox and the tunnel vision
A mention is a powerful action for engagement and onboarding. When a human asks something to another one, there is moral obligation to respond. Also, it enables the mechanism of collaboration building cohesiveness to a community to achieve a common goal.
However, at the same time the Inbox brings a tunnel vision making users being aware only of their course of action. Reducing the scope of what is happening across the whole knowledge repository.