If there is anything I have gotten good at over the last year and a half, it is how to launch an enterprise application. The rules include: have everyone in the same room, under promise, over deliver, work hard, and remember to breathe.

I am always fascinated with user behavior, but it is frequently hard to know what the user experience actually is. That was not the case this time.

A forum on Student Doctor Network gave us a unique look at how our users were experiencing our launch day. Pre-med students can be a demanding bunch, and of course it is only the worst comments from people with browsers in the most bizarre states that posted on the forum. However, if you are donning your thick-skin, it makes for an interesting read.

Recently I posted an entry on an idea I called the “Listening Application.” This idea has generated a number of conversations with peers of mine, many of which inevitably result in listing applications that seem like they might be “listening”, only to eventually rule them out.

For the record, here is a list of applications that are deemed to not be listening:

1. Facebook, MySpace or other Social Networking Sites
2. Instant Messenger
3. Email
4. Blogs
5. YouTube

I am not surprised that these applications are offered as candidates. When describing a theoretical application that is “gratifying, [and] deepens connections with its users while empowering them”, it is easy to think about the current social revolution that has enveloped the web by allowing users to easily produce and publish content. The ways in which the technologies listed above have deepened and multiplied connections between internet users are countless.

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gnovis ran an article of mine today talking about craigslist Missed Connections.

How can you not love a missed connection? Anonymously thrust into the ether of cyberspace, they are little stories with endless possibilities.

Will the bookworm’s post lead to an exciting new chapter in life? Will the Starbucks flirts reconnect over a triple raspberry mocha frappuccino latte? And will those gym-bunnies ever hop into each other’s lives?

Imagining the possibilities is probably the best part. But for better or worse, sometimes real life is much more explosive. Check it out!