A chum of mine recently shared a video on Facebook of his three-year-old daughter howling like a coyote as she danced and pranced away. It was ten seconds of such concentrated cuteness that I thought I might have a heart attack and die.
We so love our FB and Twitter because they allow us to be heard. And man, do we love to be heard. A cousin has no qualms about updating her status more than twenty times a day, ranting about work and boasting about her vibrant social life. Her equally bizarre coworker manages to tweet in excess of a hundred messages daily.
Your app should allow users to be heard. Better still, your app must allow users to brag about their accomplishments.
Temple Run allows a player to tweet their scores, be it their personal best or a record-smashing one. Source: http://www.talkandroid.com
Bragging rights is, well, our right. All of us need to be praised and accepted, and one way to fulfill this need is to brag about our activities, and hope to be commended. We have an insatiable ego and the longing to feel important. One of the channels to satisfy and the feed the ego’s daily cravings is to, well, brag.
EatWillGrow lets a proud user broadcast his score on Twitter. Source: http://blog.louisgray.com
Allowing an app user to brag about their deeds encourages continuous usage. Your app which tolerates bragging keeps its current users hooked because you let them continue bragging. They post their high scores and achievements on their Facebook timeline and tweet about them, knowing very well their friends will witness their triumphs.
Bejeweled Blitz allows you to blow your own horn on Facebook. Source: http://jeremiahlee.com
Apps like Bejeweled Blitz go further than just tweets, integrating deeply with Facebook to provide competition among friends and encouraging continuous app play. A message pops up on your notification panel. Your high school mate has overtaken your highest score. Besides clenching your fists until your knuckles go white, what would you do? Fire up your own Bejeweled Blitz app and try to outdo him, of course.
Bejeweled Blitz lets Facebook friends compete with each other, encouraging continuous app play. Source: http://jeremiahlee.com
Moreover, braggers lure new users who will likely be curious about your app every time some self-praising message appears on their Facebook timeline or Tweeter page. Downloading and trying out your app is very tempting indeed, when you have friends bragging about their feats with it.
To some, braggers are a downright narcissistic lot. But, unless you check yourself into a monastery, one’s ego can never be eliminated. Users are itching to talk big. Give in and activate that bragging module in your app.
Featured art: psychcentral.com