Thinking Small: eTrade launches a social network
May 9, 2008
eTrade launches an implicit and tiny social network-like feature.
I came across this example of a small feature that instantly evoked a sense that there is a community of users on eTrade. I am not an active trader by any means and the actual info within the widget was not what made it stand out to me. It was the fact that I was exposed to the activities of other users within this community in a really subtle way.
This is partly what I was referring to in my post about “The social app that will redefine financial services firms.” Exposing the crowd activity is a type feature that could allow full-service firms to differentiate their private experiences. They are inherently a community of like minds (and often rich ones too).
The key to this feature is that it was not too creepy or invasive and it did not require me to do any work. It also did not make a recommendation to me. I can draw my own conclusions about the list that is presented. I do have to make a certain cognitive leap though to apply context to the list. It makes me ask ‘what types of users are searching for quotes on eTrade.’ That will define how I ultimately interpret the resulting list.
