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The challenge on the Web is to create new forms of content. So why are we laying around, slapping up print and multimedia materials while drooling over the simplest of presentations? Have we forgotten where the power is? Responding to the audience is the first key to harnessing and enhancing the power of the Web, the active and participating audience. Why do so many sites lack any signs of life? Because the person (or people) behind it have taken a one-way approach, based not on interacting with the audience but trying to lure them with flat text and graphics. This is desktop publishing, not Web publishing, broadcasting as if the information itself was so valuable that people should visit for that alone. This is a waste of time.
I'm not a fan of the word "site" because it's like the word "sit", laying around waiting for something to happen. There's no activity to that word; I propose a new term based on activity, called a "cyte". A cyte is based on active thought, participation, and integration based on the most valuable natural resource on the Web: the audience who participates daily in this live medium. And the Web developers who understand they must respond to their audience to make it a two-way medium.
Anyone can slap up some HTML code and call it a Web site. Let's see, it has lots of links, it points to what others do, has some cute graphics, but where's the life? Where's the presence, the personality, the human being behind the page? Why is it so flat and two dimensional? Because it's a passive approach, hoping for a reaction. The key to a cyte is interaction, active dialogue and communication.
The activity behind a cyte is truly the missing link. What's missing is the best technology ever devised, the human imagination housed in the person maintaining the page. A cyte is one that has earned the name by focusing on how to get people to participate, to be part of the site. Would you rather visit a site that was a flat advertisement or one that made you part of the picture? One that asked for feedback or one that hoped you'd impulsively react by merely viewing a page?
A cyte is one that recognizes that we on the Web are involved in a dialogue with the audience, an exchange of ideas and innovation. We want to know what cytes you have visited. How do they respond to you? Do they take time to write good email responses? Do they invite feedback? These are the sites that recognize the value. The promise lies not in ourselves, but in the real stars of the Web, the audience. Design for them and you will design the right way. You will create return customers, new visitors, and a reputation. You will also create a bookmark defining your site as an important one. The advantage is in your hands, right now.
A cyte has a unique personality, look and feel. A site is a simple collection of code that fills an ego, but not an attention span. Design for the audience and let them be part of your site. Let us know about good cytes by emailing cytes@writething.com. Peace.
MegaDeath, Arizona
See why Capitol
Records turned a $10,000 investment into a living site, without ever trying?
They let the audience do the talking....