Drawing from John Blyberg‘s ILS Customer’s Bill of Rights and
The Social Customer Manifesto, Jenny Levine offers this Online Library User Manifesto:
- I want to have a say, so you need to provide mechanisms for this to happen online.
- I want to know when something is wrong, and what you’re going to do to fix it.
- I want to help shape services that I’ll find useful.
- I want to connect with others that share my interests.
- I want to use your services on my schedule, not yours. I don’t care if it’s noon, midnight, Sunday, or Christmas Eve.
- I want to know how your library works.
- I want to tell you when you’re screwing up. Conversely, I’m happy to tell you the things you are doing well.
- I want to interact with institutions that act in a transparent and ethical manner.
- I want to know what’s next. We’re in partnership…where should we go?
The basis of this, is of course the critical mass of users who are making online services a part their everyday lives. And it’s not just the millennial generation, as it turns out that it’s the 35 to 44-year olds who are most likely to buy movie tickets online, just as one example. But a recent Pew Internet Project study on millennials does reveal an interesting trend, one that the above manifesto seeks to address:
These teens would say that the companies that want to provide them entertainment and knowledge should think of their relationship with teens as one where they are in a conversational partnership, rather than in a strict producer-consumer, arms-length relationship.
And if that isn’t clear enough, take a look at the message in the marketing world.