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Scott Adams’ popular workplace comic strip, Dilbert, has undergone a Web 2.0 makeover. The new Dilbert.com hosts a blog, features flash displays of newly color strips, and invites readers to outwit Adams by creating their own punch lines for favorite strips. Some industry watchers are speculating that the Web 2.0 flavor is an attempt for the popular strip to survive the waning popularity of print media, but fans don’t seem to think this is necessary. Indeed, user comments on the beta site are very critical of the upgrade, despite the chance to participate in Dilbert’s anti-Utopian office culture.

Adams told technology blog Machinist that he’s always considered his readers to be active participants in his content decisions for Dilbert. “People e-mail me with ideas, I draw the comic, they hang the comic on a wall,” he says. This trend towards user-generated content is at the center of Web 2.0 culture, and it makes sense for even traditional entertainment offerings like comics to capitalize on it. Dilbert.com has embraced this through what they call “mashups”, which will allow readers to create their own versions of Dilbert cartoons. The first feature to be added will let users insert their own captions into the final frame of the strip. The mashup function will expand in May to allow users to caption the entire cartoon, or allow them to write the first frame and pass it to friends to fill in the rest.

I added my twist to this strip:

Though the process was fun, the user interface leaves much to be desired, which I suspect is the reason behind the readers’ revolt. First of all, the new site required users to run Flash to look at every strip, and many have complained that this feature slows down their machines. Archived strips were hard to find, and it seems some readers are on the verge of revolt. One says, “I just registered to tell you, that the new layout sucks big time! Lose the layout or lose your readers!” Another user jokes, “Which of the Dilbert characters is responsible for this?”

While some people will grimace and groan at the smallest change in their routine (Dilbert readers may be particularly prone to this, I suspect), the users’ problems with Dilbert’s Web 2.0 makeover seem justified in their disappointment. The user interface of the new site is abysmal, and fancy new features are not what readers want. It seems like some basic usability testing could have prevented this backlash, and hopefully the site’s developers are reading the user comments and taking copious notes. More isn’t always better; better is better. A little less emphasis on trendy techniques and more consumer research could have made for a smooth, controversy-free launch.

That being said, I still find myself exploring the hard-to-navigate archives in search of the perfect strip with which to prank my boss and coworkers. On that account, the new site is a brilliant example of the power of user-generated content. Die-hard Dilbert fans get the opportunity to step into his cubicle hell (and out of their own), and that just may save Adams’ his online readers.

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By Haley January Eckels