---
title: "Shhh, Don’t Tell The Users!"
date: 2004-10-06
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2004"
    url: "/tag/2004.md"
---

# Shhh, Don’t Tell The Users!

I love this extract from a [Web 2.0](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045352/http://feedster.com/links.php?url=web2con.com) workshop about Enterprise social software, as [blogged by Denise Howell](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045352/http://bgbg.blogspot.com/2004/10/web-20-workshops-enterprise-social.html):

Ross Mayfield (SocialText) and Michael Pusateri (Disney) are discussing using SocialText (and blogs and wikis in general) in business. Michael works for the television/ABC arm of Disney, and they’re using SocialText. He has a great point: **how do you get users to accept the new methodologies? Simple. Don’t tell them. Don’t make a big deal about trying some revolutionary new tool.** Just train them and let them discover things like why email doesn’t make a great file system, but a weblog is another story. They’re also using Newsgator with Outlook to help people aggregate and survey what’s going on on all the Disney weblogs. Told the users: “We’re going to put some stuff into Outlook so you don’t have to go check the Web pages anymore.” Response: cool! **No discussion needed about the joys/promise of RSS, etc.***(emphasis mine)*

It’s the same kind of approach [that Yahoo! is taking](https://web.archive.org/web/20050213045352/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002291.php) with their new RSS services.

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002315.php))*