Tell them about it
Posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 12:56pm. #
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to interview Kevin Rose for my colleagues at the BBC. I’ve asked for video, but it looks like it isn’t coming, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
While Steve Bowbrick has said that Kevin didn’t say much about Digg, that’s not what I was interested in. I was keen to understand what he had to say about stuff that Digg’s doing that we should be doing.
After telling him how audiences of many websites don’t much like change – the howls of protest when the BBC changed its front page, or the similar howls when BBC Radio 7′s new website went live recently, or the similar howls with the new Facebook, I asked Kevin what he’d recommend in this instance.
He said, simply, “Tell your audience what you’re doing. Show them your new designs, talk them through them, listen to them. People don’t like change, so you’ll get a few days of pain, but if you still have problems after a few weeks, it’s time to look at what they’re saying and taking them seriously”.
Good advice, particularly since virtually every redesign I’ve ever been involved with has had a load of negative comment surrounding it – including on Feedback last Friday!
And good to see BBC Radio 2 has already taken heed…
Photo: Eston Bond. Used under licence.
Hi James,
Is the Radio 4 site going to be next? Given the listeners to the station don’t like change very much at all…