1. Designing
Social media
Introduction
Denis Gillet & Adrian Holzer
The copyright of images belong to their authors. I will remove them on demand. Contact me at adrian.holzer@epfl.ch

2. pter 1
Cha
The rise of
the social
web

3. “The Web is more a social
creation than a technical one.
I designed it for a social
effect - to help people work
together - and not as a
technical toy.”
[Tim Berners-Lee]

4. The amazon effect

5. Thanks for joining this usability study
Hello, sure!

6. Go to CircuitCity to buy a camera
Can I go to Amazon first?
No, it’s not allowed

7. I always go to Amazon first I love it
Why do you want to go there?
To research products

8. Even if you don’t plan to buy it there?
Of course !!
Huh ?!?!?

9. There are often 4000 pixels before
the most magnetic content...
customer reviews

10. Assumptions at play
Information from manufacturers
are de facto biased
Information from customers are
a priori independent

11. Customer reviews provide the
Truth
This ”truth” is simply an aggregation of social
interactions of people like you and me

12. Social Design
is the conception,
planning, and
production of web
sites and
applications that
support social
interaction

13. We’ve barely seen the tip of the iceberg when
it comes to designing social software

14. Because
Humans are innately social
Social software is a forced move
yes
yes
Social software is accelerating

15. Humans are innately social

16. Interact for almost
everything
Organize in
groups
Belong to
many groups
People influence
each other
Groups influence
people
Environm
ent
influence
s p eo p l e

17. Software interface is part of the
environment
It also influences the behavior
If an action is available,
you can perform it
If an action is not
available, you can’t

18. So are designers in
full control ?

19. Nope, designing an interface that triggers
a desired behavior is a huge challenge
Too confined
people won’t
use it
Sweet spot
supports
individuals and
their groups
Too flexible
people won’t
know how to
use it

20. Thus, the challenge is
to design interfaces
that support current
and desired social
behavior of people
who use them

21. Just as humans are social, so our
software must be as well

22. Social software is a forced move
yes
yes

23. Relying on social
networks is how
the vast majority of
decisions are made
eating
voting shopping
reading
computing
driving

24. Living in the
Information age
is like drinking
from the
firehose

25. Also, we have to overcome the
unacceptable ad bias

26. Wealth of information means
scarcity of
Attention

27. We must
allocate our
attention
efficiently

28. We need to find trusted sources to
help us filter information

29. Social software allows us to filter the
quantity and the quality of information by
focusing our attention on people like us
and people we trust
Less quantity
We don’t have a choice!
More quality

30. Social software is our only
chance to filter information
yes
yes

31. Social software is
accelerating

32. 1960s - email

33. Temporary Social Media
2011

34. Over time,
conversations
evolved...

35. One-way conversation
Early static web

36. Two-way conversation
Early web apps
with cookies
and databases

37. Many-way conversation
Social web apps

39. [Alexa]
The most
popular
web
properties
are social

41. The current social software
landscape

42. Conclusion
Social media growth is mind boggling
But only 35% of people are on
the Internet so far
So social media is still in its infancy

43. The copyright of images belong to their authors. I will remove them on demand. Contact me at adrian.holzer@epfl.ch