It seems like everyone is trying to build an online community these days. Unfortunately, designing a community space is much trickier to nail than your typical web app. The smallest changes can have butterfly-like effects that greatly impact, sometimes irreversibly, community behavior as the community grows. Designing for a community is like running a small island nation with every design decision a matter of public policy. You’ll often find that the needs of your community are at odds with those of individual users.
In this talk, Richard White, co-founder of UserVoice.com, and Steve Huffman, co-founder of Reddit.com and Hipmunk.com, will cover some of the key concepts behind community-driven design and how you can incorporate them into your design thinking. We’ll also cover some of common pitfalls that drive participants away from online communities or create insular bedroom communities. Most importantly we’ll share our experiences with building online communities and walk you through real data we have collected that illustrate how small design changes can have a big impact.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/2012/events/event_IAP10560
6. Overview
What do we mean by
community-centered design?
Teardowns
Deconstructing the design of
message boards, Reddit &
UserVoice.
7. Overview
What do we mean by
community-centered design?
Teardowns
Deconstructing the design of
message boards, Reddit &
UserVoice.
Growing up
Dealing with living
communities.
8. Overview
What do we mean by
community-centered design?
Teardowns
Deconstructing the design of
message boards, Reddit &
UserVoice.
Growing up
Dealing with living
communities.
Live Q&A
Random audience questions.
9. Overview
What do we mean by
community-centered design?
Teardowns
Deconstructing the design of
message boards, Reddit &
UserVoice.
Growing up
Dealing with living
communities.
Live Q&A
Random Curated audience
questions.
Tweet questions to
@rrwhite
33. Topics
Sorted by last post, first post or
user rating?
Comments
Flat or threaded? 1 level or
“infinite”? Paginated? Sorted by
oldest first, newest first or user
rating.
Identity
Real names or usernames or
anonymous? Karma/
Reputation?
Creation
Requirements: need to be
logged in? format? minimum
Tweet questions to
@rrwhite
34.
35.
36. Moderators
Links have to be approved by
moderators
Density
Only a couple of links fit on the
front page
Speed
About one new link per hour
37.
38. Lots o links
No moderators, so there are
many more links in the system
Density
Minimal layout allowed for a
high density of content
Boring!
People bookmark boring things
Tool
Del.icio.us is a tool, not a
community.
39.
40. User-powered
Links are submitted by the
community. Links are voted on
by the community.
Dynamic
Content rises and falls. Good
content rises fast and falls
slow.
Dense
The more links we put on the
front page, the more likely we
were to please you.
41.
42. Just the facts
Only username and password.
No name, no email.
Few
restrictions
Usernames need 3 letters.
Passwords need 3 letters.
No email
No address means no
confirmation. Users are
interacting faster.
43.
44. The minimum
Just the URL and title.
No categories
What categories would we even
have? Hard to get right; might
as well not try.
Dupes!
Are duplicates really a problem?
No restrictions
Anyone can submit, anything
can become popular.
45.
46. Personality
Comments allowed reddit’s
personality to shine.
Sorting
Sorting comments by hotness
gave them the same dynamic
feel as our front page. Best is
better.
Shush!
Comments with negative scores
are hidden.
47. Growth
Now we have something for
everyone.
Small feeling
Many small communities allows
the site to still feel small.
Magical
Subreddits gave the users even
more power to do incredible
things.
48. Pillars of Reddit
The community should always
feel small
Let the users do the hard part
Never remove content, no matter
how hard
When in doubt, figure it out later
Personality is critical
49.
50. Forums didn’t work...
Noisy
- Discussion != Actionable
items
- Replies != Agreement.
- What are the top items?
Tweet questions to
@rrwhite
51. Forums didn’t work...
Noisy
- Discussion != Actionable
items
- Replies != Agreement.
- What are the top items?
- Lots of off topic comments.
Exclusionary
- High barrier of entry to +1
Tweet questions to
@rrwhite
52. Forums didn’t work...
Noisy
- Discussion != Actionable
items
- Replies != Agreement.
- What are the top items?
- Lots of off topic comments.
Exclusionary
- High barrier of entry to +1
Can’t follow up
- Users have to read all
comments
- No easy way to message all
interested parties
Tweet questions to
@rrwhite
53. Reddit wouldn’t work...
All the things!
Everyone would vote everything
up. Why not?
Vocal minority
We worried that you’d have a
core set of users driving all the
content.
Too complex
- Need to create an account to
agree
- More functionality than
needed
Tweet questions to
@rrwhite
56. Topics
- Sorted by votes from users
- Phrase things as an
imperative
Co-opt
content
- Voting over content creation
- Make it hard to create new
topic
- Limit on amount of content/
votes
57. Topics
- Sorted by votes from users
- Phrase things as an
imperative
Co-opt
content
- Voting over content creation
- Make it hard to create new
topic
- Limit on amount of content/
votes
58. Topics
- Sorted by votes from users
- Phrase things as an
imperative
Co-opt
content
- Voting over content creation
- Make it hard to create new
topic
- Limit on amount of content/
votes
59. Topics
- Sorted by votes from users
- Phrase things as an
imperative
Co-opt
content
- Voting over content creation
- Make it hard to create new
topic
- Limit on amount of content/
votes
60. Topics
- Sorted by votes from users
- Phrase things as an
imperative
Co-opt
content
- Voting over content creation
- Make it hard to create new
topic
- Limit on amount of content/
votes
Identity
- Real names
- Just email (or anonymous)
- Karma
61. Topics
- Sorted by votes from users
- Phrase things as an
imperative
Co-opt
content
- Voting over content creation
- Make it hard to create new
topic
- Limit on amount of content/
votes
Identity
- Real names
- Just email (or anonymous)
- Karma
67. Two ways to influence
your community
- From inside the community (social norms)
- Design of the public space
68. Two ways to influence
your community
- From inside the community (social norms)
- Design of the public space
Be thoughtful w/
design...
- What do you want your community to
accomplish?
- How big will this community be?
- How inclusive should it be?
- How often will members be visiting?
- Where do you need speed bumps or “toddler-
sized barriers”
69. Two ways to influence
your community
- From inside the community (social norms)
- Design of the public space
Be thoughtful w/
design...
- What do you want your community to
accomplish?
- How big will this community be?
- How inclusive should it be?
- How often will members be visiting?
- Where do you need speed bumps or “toddler-
sized barriers”
... but don’t overdo it!
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
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Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
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Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
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Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
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Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n
Between those two points is 3 failed startups, 3000 miles, $30K of debt, 2 ex-cofounders, 2 months homelessness, and 1 ex-girlfriend.\n\nThis is the story about the part in between.\n