On Social Design

Bokardo has posted part one of an article on the Common Pitfalls of Building Social Web Applications and How to Avoid Them. It can be summed up in the following four points:

1. Underestimating the cold start problem.
2. Focusing on too many things.
3. Lack of sustained execution.
4. Pointing the finger when missteps happen.

I like the example he uses for #4, at how Digg rescinds their initial stance. Of course lately, it's not only Digg that had to make an apology to its community, but personally, I find that Six Apart could have taken a page from How to Say I'm Sorry.