Design for Social Sharing Workshop

1. Design for Social Sharing Workshop -some theory, a casestudy and a design exercise Rashmi Sinha www.slideshare.net www.rashmisinha.com

2. Structure of talk <ul><li>Why now? </li></ul><ul><li>Understanding crowds </li></ul><ul><li>Design for Social Sharing </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Some design principles </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Case Study: SlideShare </li></ul><ul><li>Design exercise </li></ul>

3. Part I: Why NOW?

4. browsing alone Attributed to PIMboula on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pimboula/15256153/

6. Who is online <ul><li>Broadband penetration is at more than 50% </li></ul>From Pew Internet Research, for US only

7. From Pew Internet Research, for US only

8. Just for fun! 34% men , 26% women 37% of 18-29 yrs old , and 20% of 65 and over go online, on any given day, just for fun… From Pew Internet Research, for US only

10. 6.5 million people

11. WOW is millions of people with diverse backgrounds collaborating, socializing, and learning while having fun. It represents the future of real-time collaborative teams in an always-on, diversity-intensive, real-time environment. WOW is a glimpse into our future. Joi Ito in Wired Magazine

12. 240,000 users

13. Wells Fargo StageCoach Island

14. American Apparel

16. Part II Social presence (integration of GTalk with Gmail) Real time collaboration with text documents

17. DiggSpy: real time updating

19. Part II: Understanding crowds

20. Designing for the individual <ul><li>Usability </li></ul><ul><li>Findability </li></ul><ul><li>Interactions and their flow </li></ul><ul><li>… </li></ul>

21. Designing for the group <ul><li>How people interact </li></ul><ul><li>Rules for interaction </li></ul><ul><li>Product of interaction </li></ul><ul><ul><li>A community </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>A joint decision </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Working together </li></ul></ul>

22. Psychology of groups <ul><li>Social facilitation </li></ul><ul><li>Group think </li></ul><ul><li>Group polarization </li></ul><ul><li>Social loafing </li></ul>

23. Conditions for wise crowds <ul><li>Cognitive Diversity </li></ul><ul><li>Independence </li></ul><ul><li>Decentralization </li></ul><ul><li>Easy Aggregation </li></ul>

24. Wise Crowds: Cognitive Diversity <ul><li>Need many perspectives for good answers </li></ul><ul><li>Groups become homogenous </li></ul><ul><ul><li>New (similar) members don’t bring new info </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Diversity reduces groupthink </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Groupthink works by shielding members from outside opinions </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Diversity reduces conformity </li></ul>

25. Wise Crowds: Independence <ul><li>Stops people’s mistakes from getting correlated (uncorrelated mistakes averaged out) </li></ul><ul><li>Encourages new viewpoints (diversity) </li></ul><ul><li>Concept of Social Proof </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Milgram experiment </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>People assume that groups know what they are doing </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Leads to herd like behavior </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Information Cascades </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Sequence of uninformed choices, building upon each other </li></ul></ul></ul>

26. Wise Crowds: Decentralization “ A crowd of decentralized people working to solve a problem on their own without any central effort to guide them, come up with better solutions, rather than a top-down driven solution.” Suroweicki

27. Wise Crowds: Easy Aggregation <ul><li>A decentralized system can pick right solution </li></ul><ul><ul><li>With easy way for information to be aggregated across system </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Example: votes on Digg </li></ul></ul>

28. Crowds in Online Games <ul><li>Alone together (Ducheneaut et al. CHI 2006) </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Passive presence of others </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Playing for the audience, but not interacting </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Social facilitation (Zajonc, 1960) </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Improved performance in presence of others </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Presence can be passive </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Observed even in cockroaches! </li></ul></ul>

29. A different type of social factor <ul><li>“ … the other players have important roles beyond … quest groups: they also provide an audience , a sense of social presence , and a spectacle ” </li></ul>Ducheneaut et al., 2006

30. <ul><li>“ playing WoW is therefore like playing pinball in a crowded arcade, where spectators gather around the machine to observe the best players ” </li></ul>Ducheneaut et al., 2006

31. <ul><li>“ Community in MMORPGs tends refer to mythical old villages where everybody knows and interacts with everybody… as WoW illustrates, a large community of gamers can thrive in a context where relationships are much more indirect” </li></ul>Ducheneaut et al., 2006

33. Part III: So you want to design for social sharing?

34. Forget the ipod!

35. Give up control This is messy!

36. Beyond hand-crafted IA

37. Plant the seeds, let people connect

38. Design for emergent architecture

39. What is social sharing?

40. <ul><li>This is not it! </li></ul>

41. Hi I found you while I was searching my network at LinkedIn. Let's connect directly, so we can help each other with referrals. If we connect, both of our networks will grow. To add me as your connection, just follow the link below.

42. First generation Social Networks (Friendster, LinkedIn…) 1) I am linked to -> -> to you --->You are linked to her -> ---> on… <ul><li>How it works </li></ul><ul><li>People connect to each other </li></ul><ul><li>Six degrees of separation </li></ul><ul><li>“ Are you my friend” type of awkwardness </li></ul>

43. Object mediated social networks “… call for the rethinking of sociality along lines that include objects in the concept of social relations.” Katrin-Knorr Cetina Reference: http://www.zengestrom.com/blog/2005/04/why_some_social.html

44. Coffee Dance performance Tomatoes

45. Second generation social networks <ul><li>Put objects at the center </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Social sharing </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Tagging </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Viral sharing </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Social News Creation </li></ul></ul>

46. Watercooler conversations around our stuff (social networks with objects in between) e.g., Flickr, Yahoo answers 1) I share my pics -> -> with you ---> -->You share your pics -> ---> with him <ul><li>How it works </li></ul><ul><li>People share objects | watch others </li></ul><ul><li>Connections through objects </li></ul><ul><li>Social info streams: emergence of popular, interesting items </li></ul>

48. Viral sharing (passing on interesting stuff, e.g., YouTube videos) <ul><li>How it works </li></ul><ul><li>Individual to individual to individual </li></ul><ul><li>Popularity based navigation track “viral” items </li></ul>1) I send video I like -> -> to you. You pass on --> --> to her, who sends on to her, who passes on…

50. Tag-based social sharing (linked by concepts…) e.g., Flickr, del.icio.us 1) I tag my bookmarks -> you see my tags -->You share your tags -> <ul><li>How it works </li></ul><ul><li>Saving & tagging your stuff (creating bookmarks). </li></ul><ul><li>Tags mediate social connections </li></ul><ul><li>Formation of social/conceptual information streams. Emergence of popular, interesting items </li></ul>politics lebanon Global voices politics technology Global voices web JAVA CNN networks blogs science science science brain

52. Social news creation (rating news stories) e.g., digg, Newsvine 1) I find interesting story -> you rate story -->Others rate stories <ul><li>How it works </li></ul><ul><li>Finding and rating stories </li></ul><ul><li>Popular stories rise to top </li></ul>5 4

54. Objects invite us to <ul><li>Connect </li></ul><ul><li>Play </li></ul><ul><li>React </li></ul><ul><li>Reach out </li></ul>

55. Part IV: Some principles…

56. 1. Make system personally useful <ul><li>For end-user system should have strong personal use </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Memorable Personal Snippets (e.g., Del.icio.us & Flickr) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Self-expression (e.g., Newsvine) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Social status: Digg </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Don’t count on altruism </li></ul><ul><ul><li>System should thrive on people’s selfishness </li></ul></ul>

57. Bite-sized self-expression <ul><li>Creative self-expression </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Artistic expression (Flickr, YouTube) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Humor (YouTube) </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Individual piece should be small </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Can create sets & lists </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Do Mashups </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Simple, guessable URLs for everything </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Leave room for games & social play </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Appreciation </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Stalking (some!) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Gossip </li></ul></ul>

58. 2. Symbiotic relationship between personal & social <ul><li>Personal snippets > Social stream </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Pictures > Organized by Events </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Music > Organized by Playlists </li></ul></ul>

59. 3. Porous boundary between public & private <ul><li>Earlier systems </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Personal (Personal Desktop Software, e.g., Picasa, EndNote) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>OR Social websites (Shutterfly) </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Rethink public & private </li></ul><ul><ul><li>People share for the right returns </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Set defaults to public, allow easy change to private </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Give user control </li></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Over individual pieces & sets </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Delete items from history </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Reset /remove profile </li></ul></ul></ul>Privacy settings on Flickr

60. 4. Allow for levels of participation <ul><li>Everyone does not need to create! </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Implicit creation (creating by consuming) </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Remixing—adding value to others’ content </li></ul></ul>Source: Bradley Horowitz’s weblog, Elatable, Feb. 17, 2006, “Creators, Synthesizers, and Consumers”

61. Why do people digg/comment/tag? “ commenting, digging, burying comments, typing descriptions, reading hundreds of articles and… … for a lot of nerds, using digg is just a casual free-time activity. Entertaining. Fun. Engaging.”

62. How to encourage participation <ul><li>Insights from Social Psychology </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Highlight unique contribution </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Allow for smaller local groups </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Highlight benefit to self </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Highlight benefit to group </li></ul></ul>Source: Using social psychology to motivate contributions to online communities, Ling et al. 2005

63. 5. Let people feel the presence of others <ul><li>What paths are well worn </li></ul><ul><li>User profiles / photos </li></ul><ul><li>Real-time updating </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Like a conversation </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Sense that others are out there </li></ul></ul>What people are digging right now!

64. 6. And yet, moments of Independence… <ul><li>Choreography: when alone, when part of group </li></ul><ul><li>Prevent mobs </li></ul><ul><li>Don’t make it too easy to mimic others </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Incentives for originality & uniqueness </li></ul></ul>

65. Allow for alternative viewpoints <ul><li>Social sharing can lead to tyranny of dominant view </li></ul><ul><ul><li>People of a group agree </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Viewpoint rises to top (popularity lists, tag clouds) </li></ul></ul></ul>

66. 7. Enable Serendipity <ul><li>Don’t make navigation all about popularity </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Access to some popular stuff (keep this fast moving) </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Make the “long tail” accessible </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Popularity as a jump off point to other ways of exploring </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Provide personalization </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Recommendations using collaborative filtering </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Similar tags, content, others </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><li>Ad-hoc groups? </li></ul>

67. 8. Most of all, allow for play

68. Challenges with social systems

69. Systems represent people who adopt them <ul><li>Many social sites dominated by relatively few users </li></ul><ul><li>Systems represent their viewpoints & perspective </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Types of biases </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>In-groups / experts use more specific tags than out-groups / novices </li></ul></ul></ul>

70. Surfacing minority perspectives <ul><li>Minority views get lost. Consensus view bubbles up </li></ul><ul><ul><li>How to give alternative viewpoints a voice? </li></ul></ul>

71. How to surface expertise? <ul><li>People can gain expertise within system </li></ul><ul><ul><li>How to reflect outside expertise? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Weigh it differently? </li></ul></ul>

72. Adoption by average user <ul><li>People just want info, don’t want to participate </li></ul>

74. Case Study: SlideShare <ul><li>The object of sharing </li></ul><ul><ul><li>The digital representation </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Social practices around sharing </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Mirroring them on SlideShare </li></ul></ul>

75. Models of popularity based navigation <ul><li>Single, simple metric (e.g., Digg) </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Focuses driving stories up/down in short period </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Single Complex metric (e.g., Flickr) </li></ul><ul><li>Multiple Simple Metrics (e.g., YouTube) </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Let people decide which makes sense </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Different metrics reflect diff qualities </li></ul></ul>

76. Popularity based Navigation How many of these is too much? Remember stuff Tagging Share with your friends Emailing Share on your blog Embedding Watch it Viewing Decide what goes to front page Digging Interact with others Commenting Remember stuff Show others what you like Favoriting Goal Metric

77. Tagging on SlideShare <ul><li>Started with author tagging </li></ul><ul><li>Added in community tagging </li></ul><ul><li>How to reflect back tags </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Added into social stream </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Strong user adoption </li></ul></ul>

78. Zinging <ul><li>Alternative to Most Viewed </li></ul><ul><li>Decide what goes to front page </li></ul><ul><li>Simple way to participate </li></ul>

79. SlideShare category strategy <ul><li>Did not want to impose categories </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Starting to feel need </li></ul></ul><ul><li>Will have a few, top-level </li></ul><ul><li>Inspired by popular tags and content </li></ul>

80. Design Exercise <ul><li>Timeline for exercise </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Find a partner. You will complete exercise on your own and share feedback with partner. </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>10 mins: Think of below questions. </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>15 mins: Turn to person next to you. Describe your idea. Get feedback. Now, listen to their idea. Give feedback. </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>10 mins: Add short description of your idea as a comment to presentation on SlideShare </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>http://www.slideshare.net/rashmi/design-for-social-sharing-workshop/ </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><li>Create a system for social sharing </li></ul><ul><ul><li>Think of an object </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>An object that you’d like to share with friends & colleagues </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>That will reinforce the brand, build community or have some other business use </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>What will digital version of object be? How can you make it richer? </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Individual and social </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>How does object enable individual expression? </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>How do people connect over it? In real life and on the web? </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>How will findability work? </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>Are tags / categories / popularity / social networks useful? </li></ul></ul></ul><ul><ul><li>Other questions </li></ul></ul><ul><ul><ul><li>How can non sharers participate? Is privacy needed? </li></ul></ul></ul>

81. Questions? [email_address] www.rashmisinha.com