Why then do we stick with our same old boring templates post after post? Can you imagine you buy your favorite glossy magazine and page through it only to see every single page looks exactly the same? Yes, you may argue “…but print is dead!”. Newsflash! Our medium is boring. I’ll rather be dying than be boring. So why do we refuse to draw on years of research on design? When we were still based in Media City in Cape Town amongst the magazines I talked to a couple of the editors and I basically wanted to know how they design their look and feel? It turns out that it is a science. You may think they only take a bunch of words, slap in a bunch of good looking pictures and BAM! Print it, ship it. No, not quite… A lot of thought goes into the design and layout of individual articles. I’m sure not all magazines take that approach, but basically the good ones do.

Don’t get me wrong. I think theme designers out there do a great job at making themes unique and very pretty. Awesome job guys! It is just that if you read it regularly, it becomes boring. Have a look at Dustin Curtis‘ blog. That is an amazing way of doing articles on a blog! It is definitely a step in the right direction.

Have a look at some of his posts and you’ll get the idea. The post is the main focus, as it SHOULD be. No sidebar. There should not be one IMHO. Looking at my stats (not that I think that is anything to go by) a very small amount of clicks goes to sidebar links. VERY SMALL. So what is the point? No, point. Yes, it sucks at the moment, but even before this crappy design it had very little clicks.

Now people that know me would agree that I’m a crap designer. Doing posts like Dustin’s would require that you not only put thought into your writing, but also your post layout and design! What a bloody mission, I’ll admit, but it may well be a worthwhile mission. Lets try and see.

(Totally unrelated picture. Sure is cool, isn’t it?)

What seem to happen is that someone defines social media. They try to be fairly specific and clear about it. Along comes the other experts and add some other bullshit to it to make it sound more impressive. Wash, rinse, repeat. Already I see there is quite a few definitions, all saying something similar but with a slightly different focus. It almost seems that if it cannot be sold, they change the definition until it is sold! Can you say WEB TWO POINT OH? C’mon, give me a HALLELUJAH! Here we go again. Silly of me to think we learned our lesson.

Suddenly, social media is all about two way dialogues. About blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs, lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis, and vlogs facilitating conversations. About “democratizing” content. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in a conversational format between authors and people. (Source: Web Pro News, Thanks Walter)

Why not simply say: It is blogs, message boards, podcasts, micro blogs, lifestreams, bookmarks, networks, communities, wikis, and vlogs. Finish. Explained. Done and dusted. A definition every one understands. What is said above is the effects of social media, but it is NOT social media! Don’t you get it? It is two completely different things, really!