My wife got a new cell phone last night, a Palm Centro.  It's her first PDA, and definitely the most advanced handset she's ever had.  Not that my wife is a total Luddite or anything, she's just not...as entranced by technology and gadgets as I am; basically I'm a geek and she isn't.

But I was struck by how much she was enjoying the experience of taking her shiny new phone out of the box, turning it on, and playing with it.  Heck, I think she enjoyed manually copying her contacts from her old phone to her new one (at least the first 10 or so...). I bet she also noticed me enviously watching her out of the corner of my eye, and if she did I'm sure she enjoyed that . I found myself thinking about how I love it when I get a new toy like that, whether its a new laptop, a new piece of software (here I come Visual Studio 2008!), or even a new BBQ recipe (don't get me started).

Here's the interesting thing: all too often when I get a new toy, I'm surprised by how soon the allure and appeal of it wears off on me.  All too often I get tired of the item, and either start taking it for granted or stop using it all together. I would say that the only non-work new shiny item I've gotten in a while that has continued to hold my attention and keep being used is my iPod.  This doesn’t really surprise me, because it is an incredibly well-engineered item and I find it very useful and engaging.  I can always put new music or podcasts (90% of what I listen to now is podcasts) on it, and even though it’s an old 20GB model, it still works like a charm and is easy to use

I know, I know.  What's this got to do with SharePoint? Well, to me this is important because your SharePoint sites mean nothing if they're not being used.  Sure, once you install it and send out an announcement to your users that it’s open for business you'll have a nice number of logins because people are curious and want to see the new shiny site.  But what happens after that?

It's important to not just think about how you're going to implement this new powerful tool, but also about how you want your audience to use it and how you will motivate them to do so. What compelling reasons do your users to not only view your SharePoint site, but use it and continue to use it? What information will you keep in your environment that your users can not find in any other location? What behaviors or activities will your encourage or require? What tools will you make available in SharePoint that will keep users coming back to use them time and time again?

Some of what you'll be fighting is engrained behavior. For example, one of SharePoint's best features is its ability to foster document hosting and collaboration. It allows you to store a document in a single central location and let multiple access it, rather than sending individual copies to each member of your audience.  But the problem is that most users are too used to sending a document out via email, rather than distributing a link to it. Believe me; I'm as guilty of this as the next person.

So as you roll out your new SharePoint environment (or any new platform, application, or service for that matter), don't count on the fact that your users will use it simply because it's the new kid on the block.  While my wife loves her brand new toy in her favorite color (red), that she can put dates in, store reminders, and play games with it, she's going to keep using it because it’s a cell phone and she can't live without one of those anymore. 

What aspect of your SharePoint farm will your users be unable to live without?