Assignment 1: Social Media Needfinding ​

Potential Ideas ​

Interviews ​

Sima Eskenazi ​

Do you use any forms of social media, and if so, which platforms? ​

"Well I'm not much of a social media user, so I don't know how helpful I will be."

Sima uses LinkedIn and WhatsApp.

You didn't mention YouTube in your response. Do you consider this a social media platform? Why or why not? ​

Sima views Youtube as more informational, and not really interactive the same way a different social platform would be.

"I view YouTube as more of a media channel like cable news, as opposed to social media."

"YouTube is one-way, and there doesn't seem to be communication between the participants, which is something I believe a social media platform needs to have. It's social, as indicated in the name."

"I use YouTube when somebody sends me a clip, and I know that I can go on there if I am looking for a specific video (I know that it can be found there), but YouTube doesn't have the communication component that social media has."

YouTube has distinct roles: the YouTuber and the Viewer. On WhatsApp or other social media platforms, there aren't specifically defined roles. This rigidity in the way people interact with YouTube and YouTubers is the reason why Sima doesn't really consider it a social media platform.

You mentioned WhatsApp as a social media platform? Why didn't you include iMessage? What is different about WhatsApp than iMessage? ​

"Very good point, it's an oversight I guess. Partially the branding of iMessage. We take iMessage for granted (it comes pre-installed on the iPhone), so I see it as a feature of an iPhone like calling and texting. WhatsApp, on the other hand, is where I tend to participate in texting with larger groups like my high school class."

"WhatsApp tends to be more popular in European countries, and those are the people I use it with, whereas iMessage is more utilitarian."

"Because I am interacting with very social people over WhatsApp, I consider it social media."

Why do you use LinkedIn? ​

Sima uses LinkedIn as a tool, not really a form of entertainment. In her line of work, LinkedIn is an essential way to make connections and get in contact with other professionals within her industry.

"I get results on LinkedIn. As part of my work, I need to reach out to different people."

How come you don't really use Facebook or Instagram? ​

Sima uses social media because of the value she gains from it. She doesn't really use it as a form of entertainment or preoccupation.

"I don't need Instagram, and I don't really know how to use it. When the need is there, I learn how to use the program, and LinkedIn (for my line of work) has a direct use for me. Same goes for Facebook."

What is your definition of social media? ​

Sima defines social media to be a space where people are fairly active, sharing text, photos, or other "posts" with other people near or far. It enables people to stay in-touch with smaller groups but also extends to the entire world.

[I read back the above answer] Does this properly encapsulate your definition, and is there anything I might have missed? ​

"Yes, that would be my definition."

Social media connects people. Is there a particular group of people you interact with frequently that you believe could be more effectively connected? ​

"I think we're covered."

Sima connects with family, but they have their own family group chat where they send photos and messages. "I don't know what else could be done to be better connected."

"We could have our own private Instagram group, but I don't really know how to use Instagram, so I don't know how that would benefit us and the barrier to entry for me might render it useless. I'm used to iMessage."

"Similarly, we have a group chat with the broader family. We create groups for specific situations (a vacation group chat), and generally speaking, everything I would want to communicate with these people I can do using iMessage."

Some people consider Waze a social media app. It allows people to (semi-anonymously) report road conditions and interactively adjust their GPS navigation directions depending on these conditions. What about something like this, but not for GPS navigation? ​

Sima agrees that the "Waze-model" of sharing community knowledge is great and benefits everyone in a very resourceful way.

"That could be cool, and I definitely benefit from the communal knowledge on Waze."

While Sima didn't think of Waze as a social media platform she acknowledges that "it certainly is social. It's live and its directions are based on group feedback. It's almost like we're all in it together against traffic, or police, or hazards."

Is there another aspect of your day-to-day that could benefit from a Waze-like app, where people share their group/communal knowledge? ​

Sima took some time to think about this question but ultimately came up with two suggestions.

It seems like Sima is looking for some more grassroots communities on the Internet, connecting people within local communities who are going through similar 'struggles' and phases-of-life.

A couple questions about your children. Did your kids participate in any after-school activities? ​

Yes. In high school, they had athletic activities (water polo and rowing). They also participated in more local school clubs (the school newspaper and the bike club).

When you had to drive your child somewhere for after-school activities, how far (on average) did you have to drive them (one-way)? How long would this take? What was the biggest challenge of this? ​

On average, Sima would drive her kids 40 minutes, each way.

Would you return home between drop-off and pick up? ​

"Yes, most days I would."

When you wouldn't return home, what would you do during that time? ​

"I would take care of errands in that area. Oftentimes I would grocery shop when I decided not to drive home."

What would you do if you weren't able to drive your child to their after-school activity, but they still needed to attend it? ​

"Uber."

"Sometimes I would get in touch with other moms on the team (there were only a few that lived close to me). Otherwise it would be Uber, or I would have my child skip practice."

How did you handle setting up carpools? ​

Sima would usually email other kids' parents. She would "sometimes text them, but [she] oftentimes didn't have their phone numbers."

If you didn't have their phone number, how did you have their email address? ​

The after-school activities organizers would share a list of parents' email addresses at the beginning of the season, so she would refer to that. Sometimes she would check to see if she had any previous correspondence with that parent.

Metin Levi ​

Do you use any forms of social media, and if so, which platforms? ​

Metin uses Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

"I really enjoy using Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. I use WhatsApp to stay in touch with some friends in Europe, and I use Instagram for both work and play. I use Facebook to post about my real estate work, and also to stay in touch with family."

You mentioned WhatsApp as a social media platform? Why didn't you include iMessage? What is different about WhatsApp than iMessage? ​

After bringing up this point, Metin agrees that iMessage is a social media platform.

"Frankly, I didn't mention iMessage, but I use it in basically the same way as WhatsApp. A lot of people in Europe do not have iPhones, so texting them would be very costly. I think green bubbles cost money, so a lot of people in Europe use WhatsApp to circumvent Apple's iMessage wall while allowing people who own iPhones or Androids to communicate with each other."

Why do you use Facebook? ​

Metin uses Facebook mainly to connect with family and more distant relatives. He also maintains a Facebook page for his real estate work.

"Everybody's on Facebook."

"Facebook is the most universal social media platform. My parents use it, my clients use it, and my friends use it. It seems to be the most universal platform, so that's why I use it."

Why do you use Instagram, and how do you use it differently than Facebook? ​

Metin uses Instagram because the younger crowd uses it. He believes it is more personal, but also uses it similarly to how he uses Facebook for his real estate business.

"Everybody's on Facebook, but my kids are on Instagram."

"I want to stay current with the trends, and it seems like Facebook is fading out among the younger generation. My daughters don't even have Facebook accounts, but they both have Instagram accounts."

"In addition to seeing the posts that my friends are posting, I use Instagram as a real estate agent, posting pictures when a new house comes on the market or one of my clients closes on a home."

How many Instagram accounts do you have? ​

Metin maintains two Instagram accounts. One for his real estate work, and a personal account.

What is your definition of social media? ​

Metin defines social media to be a space where people share information and ideas with others. He believes that it must be an online/digital platform.

"Anything that involves people sharing ideas semi-publicly on the internet is social media in my book."

[I read back the above answer] Does this properly encapsulate your definition, and is there anything I might have missed? ​

"Yeah, I think that's a good summary."

Social media connects people. Is there a particular group of people you interact with frequently that you believe could be more effectively connected? ​

Metin thinks that there are a lot of "general-purpose" social media platforms (he referenced Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram as examples), but he believes that there could be more specialized platforms for specific subsets of people. He thinks open-source platforms are very cool, but he thinks that they haven't really expanded beyond coding.

"Generally speaking, I think we're pretty good. But there are definitely certain groups of people that are overlooked or could have a specific social media platform with more tailored features to their use-cases."

"I have some friends that are coders, and they love GitHub because it is open-source and enables people to collaborate with each other. And as we see, the results are amazing! People are looking to help each other out and get inspired by others."

Building off of that, are there any specific groups that you can think of that would benefit from more 'open-source-ness'? What about any groups that you're a part of? ​

Metin came up with three ideas almost instantly.

It seems like Metin is looking for some more close-knit communities on the internet, focusing on 'reviews' or other group-knowledge. While there are Facebook Groups for these communities, these groups often don't have hyper-specific/custom features that would benefit these communities' specific needs.

You spoke a lot about your kids. Do they participate in any after-school activities? ​

Metin's kids participate in a bunch of activities. One of his daughters is involved with the swim and basketball teams in her town. The other daughter plays soccer and acts in a local theater.

When you drive your children somewhere for after-school activities, how far (on average) do you travel (one-way)? How long would this take? ​

On average, Metin drives his kids roughly 20 minutes each way to their activities.

Would you return home between drop-off and pick up? ​

"Yes, almost always. Sometimes I am able to time it such that I pick up one of my daughters as I'm returning home after dropping off my other daughter to her activity.""

When you wouldn't return home, what would you do during that time? ​

When Metin wouldn't return home, he would take care of errands such as grocery shopping.

What do you do when you aren't able to drive your child to their after-school activity, but they still needed to attend it? ​

Metin's family had a Nanny some days of the week, so when he isn't able to drive his daughter to her activity, he would ask the Nanny to. If the Nanny was also unavailable, Metin would try to set up a carpool. If both the Nanny and carpool didn't work out, his daughters would skip their activity for that day.

How do you handle setting up carpools? ​

Metin mentioned that some of the after-school activities his daughters are involved with have Facebook Groups with many of the parents, and he would send a message in that Group asking if anybody would be able to take his daughter to their activity.

"The problem is that people don't really check the group that frequently, so I often won't get a response in time. I also have no idea where these people live, so they could be on a completely different side of town which is usually a deal-breaker of course."

Takeaways from the Interviews ​

There is a clear desire for more communal social media applications. ​

One of the most powerful aspects of social media is its ability to connect people across the globe, but as Sima and Metin commented, they do not feel super well-connected with their own communities. There seems to be a lot of opportunity to build more close-knit apps for groups that do not necessarily span across the entire world.

If there's a need, there's a way. ​

This applies more for Sima, but she seems to use technology and social media relatively minimally. However, she noted that if there was a very clear value-add to her day-to-day habits/life, she would adapt and adopt the technology.

Crowdsource Information ​

From my interviews with both Sima and Metin, it became clear that there is a desire to share information between people. While the internet has tons of data, it can be difficult to navigate. Metin and Sima both expressed a desire for a smaller, more navigable platform that contains the answers to very specific questions (such as coaching tips for parent-volunteers, or recipe inspiration for meal planning).

Design Opportunities: Ideas to Further Explore ​