Shirky: Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software
Clay makes a great case against developing user centric software.
A random paragraph:
And yet, when we poll users about what they actually do with their
computers, some form of social interaction always tops the list —
conversation, collaboration, playing games, and so on. The practice of
software design is shot through with computer-as-box assumptions,
while our actual behavior is closer to computer-as-door, treating the
device as an entrance to a social space.