A1. Social Media Needfinding ​

Initial Hunches or Themes ​

I'd like to focus the scope of my design to suit the needs of those who never or rarely post on social media but take pictures or have thoughts throughout the day that go unshared. Inspired by the humble camera roll and casual uses of social media (i.e. photo dumps, finstas, and BeReal), I'd like to explore the potential role of social media as an intimate digital photo journal experience and function as a dedicated documentation of one's day.

Interview Materials ​

Interviewees ​

I interviewed two people, SC and JY (anonymized). SC is a current student at MIT, on the pre-med track. JY is working full-time in marketing in NYC. JY describes themselves as "chronologically online" while SC uses social media more mildly.

Consent ​

• Note all the questions in this interview are optional and you do not have to answer any of them.
• Do I have your consent to share the media you might show me during the interview in my write-up? You are of course allowed to specify which media you'd like to keep between us.
• Can I record this conversation?

Introduction & Building Rapport ​

• Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?
• Where are you from?
• How do you stay connected with your friends or family that live elsewhere?
• How often do you update them with details from your day if at all and how?

(Lack of) Social Media Use ​

• Talk me through how you use your social media apps throughout the day.
• How often do you post on social media?
  • Can you think of a specific instance in which you posted on social media without hesitation (something you were confident in sharing)? What was your thought process?
  • Can you think of a specific instance in which you posted on social media after some hesitation? What was your thought process?
• How often is it that you consider posting on social media but decide not to?
  • Can you think of a specific instance which that happens? What was your thought process?
• Do you feel that your followers play a role in how self conscious or confident you feel about posting?

Followers, Visibility, Audience ​

• Can you describe your followers on social media and your relationship with them?
• Do you have a business / influencer account?
  • Can you walk me through your business account? (frequency and content of posts, overall usage and vibes)
  • Do you feel that having a business / influencer account affects the types of posts you share with your followers?
  • Can you provide an example of a post you’ve made to your influencer account? What was your thought process?
• Do you have an informal / private / alternative / burner account such as a finsta?
  • Can you walk me through your informal account? (frequency and content of posts, overall usage and vibes)
  • What are the differences in the way you approach your main vs. your informal account?
  • Can you provide an example of a post you’ve made to your informal account? What was your thought process?
• Do you utilize the close friends feature?
  • Can you walk me through how you would use the close friends feature?
  • What is the difference in content and frequency which you post for all your followers vs. select followers?
  • Can you provide an example of a post you’ve made for your close friends? What was your thought process?

Documentation / Photo Taking ​

• On an ordinary day, how many images do you take or save onto your phone (including memes, screenshots, selfies, etc.)?
• On an ordinary day, what kinds of pictures do you take (selfies, food pics, pics of friends, reminders, sunsets. etc.)?
  • Perhaps you can walk through an example, like today?
  • Who do you usually share these images with (social media, friends, family, nobody. etc.)? and through what channels (social media, private DMs, group chats, shared albums)?
• On what occasions and how often would you look through the camera roll on your phone (ex: showing someone something, reminiscing, remember what you did that day)?
  • What features of or information provided by the camera roll / photos app do you find useful in remembering moments from your day?

Raw Interview Notes ​

Transcripts are abridged.

Interview #1: S.C. ​

K: Tell me a bit about yourself and your background

S: My name is S.C. and I am currently a senior at MIT studying Computer Science and Biology with a minor in Finance.

K: Where are you from?

S: I was born and raised in NYC.

K: How do you stay connected with your friends or family back at home or elsewhere?

S: Mainly through social media. Messaging applications usually. Through text and through video calls also.

K: How do you stay connected through social media?

S: I would use social media to directly message them and sometimes I post but that's more about friends and not family. To keep family more private.

K: Would you say that one barrier to posting more frequently are concerns about privacy and putting youself out there?

S: Yeah, whatever is on the internet stays on the internet. You won't be the only one with a copy of it. I don't want to post something too personally identifying.

K: How often do you update your friends and family with details from your day and how?

S: Usually, I would message my parents on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to let them know I'm doing fine and that classes are going alright. Or I would call them to let them know what's been going on. With friends, it's more often, like daily or every other day. It's easier to talk to them because we're experiencing the same environment and the same things.

K: What about your friends you're far from?

S: There's no direct contact but if I post things... I still try to reach out once in a while, like a monthly basis or during holidays and birthdays.

K: Do you often feel like you would like to reach out to close friends you don't see everyday more often?

S: Yes I would like to reach out to close friends that I don’t see everyday more often. I think the main thing is that sometimes it feels a bit hard given that there may be a disconnect because people are doing their own things, but if there was the opportunity to create some sort of topic/opportunity to interact without it seeming forced, that would be cool.

K: Talk me through how you use your social media apps throughout the day.

S: For me, I usually use Messenger to stay in contact with friends and coordinate meet ups. I use IMessage to message my parents. Instagram is more of a past time thing. I go on there to see what people are up to.

K: By people do you mean like strangers or your friends?

S: Like friends or people I know of. If there's anything they're sharing as well as the ability to see people outside of the circle and what people are doing outside in the world. Because if something is happening, people are probably posting about it. But, yeah, also as a past time, just as a distraction.

K: What categories or themes, or what are you interested in seeing from your friends when you say you want to see what they're "up to." What do you look for?

S: I think a lot of what I'm looking for are experiences. Like new places if they're travelling, new foods they're eating, even who they're with because it's like "oh I know that person too or we have a mutual friend there." But all that just comes up in the process of scrolling but I'm not actively seeking it out but there must be something I'm looking for if I'm looking at those apps. Also I like the fact that I can see what I'm interested in and people post about those things. For example, watches: what watches other people like, seeing new watches and things like that.

K: How often do you post on social media?

S: Not very often.

K: Can you think of a specific instance in which you posted on social media without hesitation (something you were confident in sharing)? What was your thought process?

S: I think celebratory posts. For me, a lot of my posts capture memories over a period of time. So for me it’s after that period of time, I can be like "oh well these were some of the memories I captured and I want to share them." It’s like because I want to share those experiences because those are really happy instances I'm glad I experienced. Instead of posting consistently, I like to post a collection of something. Like this is the end of a semester or event. To give a sense of closure I would say.

K: So you say you like aggregating memories based on theme or time but why aggregate them instead of posting them immediately when they happen?

S: There's a thought in my head where for posting, there is a pressure that it has to be packaged nicely and be presentable. There has to be some sort of meaning, and coherent narrative behind it. Because you feel like you're being judged when you post so you want to post something meaningful. Because everyone can see it, even when your profile is private, you don't feel comfortable sharing these things with everyone every time something happens. I think it's because you think they don't care. Like why should they be interested in it?

K: Can you think of a specific instance in which you posted on social media after some hesitation? What was your thought process?

S: Usually if I hesitate about it, I don’t post it. If it's too much about me, if it’s too private, or I feel like enough people I don’t want them to see it will see it. It’s not hitting the target population, it’s not hitting the right people. It's also about getting permission from people to post certain photos. I want to ask other people if it’s ok to post them.

K: Have you ever felt like there was something you wanted to post but you didn’t?

S: Sometimes you want to share milestones or landmarks in your life but you don’t share because you’re scared other people will judge, like "oh why are they bragging" – it’s still a matter of worrying about other people’s perception.

K: With these things that you wanted to post but you didn’t post what did you do with them?

S: I just end up sharing it with people I'm close to or very close to.

K: Do you feel that your followers play a role in how self conscious or confident you feel about posting?

S: Yeah I think definitely, not that the number matters but it’s the actual people who are following because you’ll know them to varying degrees of familiarity which affects how much you're comfortable or uncomfortable with putting something out there for someone to see.

K: Can you describe your followers on social media and your relationship with them?

S: They mostly consist of friends and family but friends are subdivided into different subsections. Like you’re very close friends or more typical friends and then there’s also friends of friends and acquaintances.

K: What percentage of your followers do you feel close to?

S: Maybe like 20% at most.

K: Do you utilize the close friends feature?

S: No. I'm too lazy to identify my close friends and who can see certain things so I end up not doing it altogether.

K: On an ordinary day, how many images do you take or save onto your phone (including memes, screenshots, selfies, etc.)?

S: Maybe like 3-5 I’d say.

K: On an ordinary day, what kinds of pictures do you take? (selfies, food pics, pics of friends, reminders, sunsets. etc.)?

S: Some of them are like landscape photos. I think there’s always like 1 or 2 memes I want to share with other people and then there's pictures of blackboards. I took a picture of the dome at Killian Court today because it was raining this morning and I was like "hmm I haven't taken a picture of the dome this semester yet."

K: What did you do with this picture?

S: Nothing, I just have it on my phone but usually I’d share it with my girlfriend. I feel like she would not be interested though.

K: Who do you usually share images like this with? And through what channels?

S: Usually through private DMs. I take funny pictures and send them to my friends. Occasionally groupchats but the thing about that is figuring out of everyone has the same sense of humor or will like the image.

K: On what occasions and how often would you look through the camera roll on your phone?

S: Ummm… definitely when I'm trying to find something I took before. I mean sometimes I look through it like damn... to see pictures of my girlfriend? In seriousness, sometimes I want to go back and take a look, whether it's because of a picture of a landscape or for nostalgia. Like "Oh i remember that happened 2 years ago." Or when I reconnect with people, to see what they were like 2 years ago. I also think it's something to talk about. Like "oh we can talk about something we did 2 years ago because we took a funny picture together." Yeah, the nostalgia factor influences why I look back at a lot of photos.

K: How often do you scroll through your camera roll with other people. More specifically with people you're comfortable with, like your girlfriend?

S: Pretty often because I usually want to show her a lot of things in my camera roll, like past experiences or something recent I took. I usually have something in mind I want to show her but she has an interest in seeing everything. I'd be like "oh that was sophomore year" and give her context about what was happening in that picture and sometimes you might not even get to the intended image because we got side tracked.

Interview #2: J.Y. ​

K: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background.

J: I am J.Y., a senior college student at Northeastern University. I have an interest in people, society, and psychology, which ultimately led me into studying marketing and psychology. I grew up in a city environment, in NYC, and it shaped a lot of my Asian identity as I was constantly around my culture. So, I never developed that separation people have from their culture, but rather I have developed because of that consistent connection to culture.

K: How do you stay connected with your friends or family that live elsewhere?

J: When I am away from my friends or family, social media or phone calls are the best way to stay connected with them. I have found that connecting with them through sharing photos, memes, or videos (i.e. tiktok) has been the easiest way to connect with them in an unprompted manner. It provides an easy excuse to reach out to them and say, “Hey I am reminded of you.” I update them about my day in sporadic time intervals. I understand that they tend to have their own life, so I respect that they all have their own time schedules. But it seems to be when we both feel like it has been a long while, then we formally reach out to each other to ask about their day. However, sending them photos, memes, etc has allowed us to ease into that conversation of what did you do today, a lot easier.

K: Talk me through how you use your social media apps throughout the day?

J: I have about seven hours of screen time each day. I spend a lot of time on tiktok, and I go through between Instagram and Tiktok in a cycle. Sometimes I will go through my email as well. But Tikotk and Instagram are my top two. my screen time tends to be more for Tiktok because it is easier to spend time on a video platform. Twitter when I need to update my thoughts, you know the vibes.

K: How often do you post on social media?

J: I dont post often. I am an observer.

K: Can you think of a specific instance in which you posted on social media without hesitation (something you were confident in sharing)? What was your thought process?

J: I post without hesitation on Twitter a lot because it is easier to just type my thoughts out due to the platform. it is private platform, so it is easy. I just wanted to vent.

K: Is there a particular reason that you choose to vent on twitter/social media as opposed to venting to your friends or in a journal entry? In what ways does venting in a semi-public, digital space feel different (what are the pros/cons)?

J: Venting on social media feels both private and public at the same time. When venting to friends, it tends to be with the purpose of getting advice. When writing in a journal, it tends to be with a purpose of reflecting and letting the inner emotion and thoughts out on a place without that advice. The ability to have both on twitter is why I post on that platform instead. The probability of getting advice from a twitter post is unknown - while I'm never looking for advice, receiving it unprompted allows me a choice to take it or not. When talking with friends, there is an obligation to take it due to that personal nature. In comparison to journaling, Twitter allows me to see some sort of reaction to my thoughts - knowing that someone has heard me out is nice.

K: Can you think of a specific instance in which you posted on social media after some hesitation? What was your thought process?

J: On Tiktok, because of how public your videos can become due to the chance of the algorithm, I was a lot more hesitant. I wanted to make sure that there could be no public feedback about my video, unless it was positive. I needed to make sure I looked nice or that I was not doing anything weird.

K: Who are your followers on tik tok? What was the content that you posted?

J: I currently have only friends as my followers on Tiktok. But you can still post to the public on Tiktok if your account is public. The content I was posting was a dance video.

K: How often is it that you consider posting on social media but decide not to?

J: Pretty often. It sometimes feels like a good idea to post because I spent time into creating a piece of media, but I decide not to because socially, it didnt seem like a good idea.

K: Why didn’t it seem like a good idea “socially?” If you can elaborate

J: I feel like there are social sanctions to your behavior when posting. As influencer culture is at its peak, and only seems to be rising, the ease to become an influencer makes people think about what niche they will serve or what they will be influencing. While it is no ones intention to become an influencer (or it may be depending on the person), the known democratization of fame on social media makes people conscious of what they post, because any post can go viral for any reason. Monitoring that reason becomes key to what you decide to post or not.

For the example I gave, making sure that I became viral because I was good at dancing or because I looked pretty was important. To my discretion, because I did not believe that was the case, I felt like I would've became viral because of how bad I danced or how I had false confidence in my looks or dancing. To mitigate that, i decide not to post it.

K: Can you think of a specific instance which that happens? What was your thought process?

J: On Instagram, it happens a lot. I feel like there has become a culture of wanting to be lowkey, so there is a need to be very nonchalant in your posting. You can't post too often. You can't post a photo that is too posed. If you do post often it is because you have engagement. Making sure you can balance all of it at the same time is the thought process of posting.

K: Do you often feel like you’re not posting for yourself but for others? That is, is there an instance where you very badly wanted to post something but didn’t because you were unsure of how well it would be received by followers. If so, what did you do with that post (delete it, draft it, post elsewhere)?

J: I never consciously believe that I am posting for others. and currently, I still dont feel that way. rather, I feel like other people’s perspectives are taken more into account when I am creating content. If I wanted to badly post something, I always do, but with the prerequisite that my content was created with others in mind.

K: Also, do you feel that you post on different social medias depending on how casual the content of your post is? (ex: more casual stuff goes on BeReal/twitter, and more formal posts go on IG)? How do you feel about the frequency of which you post casual / formal content (ex: I’d like to post casual, lowkey content everyday)?

J: I feel like as much as people try to create casual platforms, there will always be an audience, meaning there will always be someone watching me, mentally. I think Twitter is the only place where I feel comfortable freeform posting whatever I want. Every other content I have feels “formal” enough for it to be able to live on any space. I guess what im trying to say is, my thoughts are the least unfiltered part of myself, and the content I create is filtered through my mind and vision, so therefore, there is no platform with varying professionalism. I do frequently post on Twitter because of how casual I feel like it is.

K: Do you feel that your followers play a role in how self conscious or confident you feel about posting?

J: Yes they tell me what I should be confident in and what I should avoid doing based on what I think their reaction would be.

K: What types of reactions are you afraid you’ll elicit?

J: I'm afraid of people talking behind my back because of it. I'm afraid of people assuming my behaviors and intent for posting something. Something I am confident in can easily be something I am unconfident in because of other peoples reactions.

K: Can you describe your followers on social media and your relationship with them?

J: Mainly acquaintances. Some people I have been interested in their personality after meeting them in real life and I wanted to connect with them on some platform in case I wanted to continue reaching out with them. They are people I do not feel the need to actively reach out to, nor do I have an interest in keeping up with them, but following them on Instagram is nice to have that connection.

K: Do you have an informal / private / alternative / burner account such as a finsta?

J: I have private accounts on Twitter and Instagram.

K: What are the differences in the way you approach your main vs. your informal account?

J: I post more frequently, with more candid posts, and I use them more infrequently then my main account. Think of it like a private journal I can use and only a few people have the key to it. I approach it as a place for me to post things I may not feel ready to post on my main account or a place I want to post things in addition to what as on my main account because of this approach, it is a lot more infrequent that I post on there. My main account is more curated, socially acceptable content I would like to post. My finsta is more candid, shows my life behind the scenes, the extra content that I was limited to post on my main.

K: On an ordinary day, what kinds of pictures do you take? (selfies, food pics, pics of friends, reminders, sunsets. etc.)?

J: Pics that remind me of the day or pictures documententing things that happened in the day. I also lean towards taking pictures that have artistically inspired me.

K: Who do you usually share these images with? (social media, friends, family, nobody. etc.) and through what channels? (social media, private DMs, group chats, shared albums)

J: These images tend to be for myself, until I feel like there is a good accumulation of them for me to post on social media. I like posting on social media with a specific purpose; so I enjoy themes of photos or photos that look similar. Sometimes I would also share photos on the occasion that I have a good caption for the public.

K: Do you ever send these pictures individually to your friends in the moment or a short-time after? (whereas for a finsta or curated post on your main account you might post it days, weeks, months after)?

J: The moments I do send pictures individually to friends is because I know they directly want to see it. For example, if they like kitkats, and I see a kitkat, I will take a picture of it to show them. When I take pictures to send to my friends, I intend for my pictures to become actionable. For example, will they buy the kit kats? Will they laugh at the picture? If it is not actionable, it is in reference to something we talked about beforehand.

K: Has there ever been a case where you shared an image with multiple people but separately?

J: Yes? I believe so - sharing the same image to different people in different chats. I did so because I knew they would elicit different reactions and different conversations would be derived from them. But also because I am probably referencing a conversation I had with them on separate occasions. If I was referencing a conversation I had with multiple people on the same occasion, then I would send it in the same group chat.

K: On what occasions and how often would you look through the camera roll on your phone? (ex: showing someone something, reminiscing, remember what you did that day)

J: Semi frequently I look through my camera roll. I find dates and photo content useful to remembering moments from the day. The act of going through the camera roll is fun when you are capable of recalling what had happened in that photo and why you took that photo.

K: Do you scroll through your camera roll with other people, if so can you provide some sense of what that experience is like?

J: Scrolling through my camera roll with someone is never an intentional thing. It is usually me looking at something and showing it to them, and then casually looking at the rest of my photos with them. The experience is really connecting - I use the photo as a means to tell a story with them. So it is going through the camera roll and then telling them stories about the photo. It is like another moment where we are catching up with each other and just sharing about our life with each other. Sometimes there is a moment where I am embarrassed to show something and that is just like another moment of, "I'll tell you when I am ready to."

Interview Report ​

Interview #1: S.C. ​

My interview with S.C. revealed the anxieties which hold them back from posting often on social media. When asked to recall a specific instance in which they confident in sharing with their followers, they brought up "celebratory" posts without any hesitation. For them, much of their posts on Instagram captured memories over a period of time. Collections of memories that mark the conclusion of a milestone or event, such as a "end of semester dump" provides "closure." When asked why they preferred to aggregate experiences based on theme or time rather than post them immediately, SC offered their perception of social media's expectations.

There's a thought in my head where for posting, there is a pressure that it has to be packaged nicely and be presentable. There has to be some sort of meaning, and cohesive narrative behind it. Because you feel like you're being judged when you post so you want to post something meaningful. Because everyone can see it, even when your profile is private, you don't feel comfortable sharing these things with everyone every time something happens. I think it's because you think they don't care. Like why should they be interested in it?

It might be that "celebratory" posts constitute "safer" content to share because of its clear intentions, whereas posts with standalone or few images are "riskier" to post because it may seem like there is "no good reason" to post them. SC brough up concerns related to privacy and reputation as the main factors in deciding whether to post something on Instagram. They recognize that their followers of "varying degrees of familiarity" greatly affects "how much [they're] comfortable or uncomfortable with putting something out there for someone to see." For example, SC has wanted to share certain achievements but didn't because they were worried other people would misinterpret the post as a means for them to brag.

When asked about the photos SC would take on an ordinary day, they talked about how earlier that afternoon they had taken a picture of The Dome on Killian Court with great excitement. They explained that they took the picture because it had been raining and they realized they had yet to snap a picture of Killian this semester. SC, however, did not share this photo even with their girlfriend, citing her disinterest as the reason. This anecdote is particularly illuminating in two ways.

1. It illustrates a personal desire and habit of to capturing images that document the day for oneself
2. It reveals how one's motivation to share an image is rooted in their perception of whether the receiver would be interested. That is, if the image is "worthy" enough.

Point #2 is further supported by the rest of SC's thought processes: they send funny pictures and videos to their friends (as the clear intention is to humor). We then engaged in a discussion about how SC uses their camera roll where they cited nostalgia as the main influence for why they look back at a lot of photos. With great excitement, they described their experience scrolling through their camera roll with their girlfriend, further emphasizing how meaningful that moment was.

Interview #2: J.Y. ​

In my interview with J.Y., we evaluated their differing usages of Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. J.Y. bought up Twitter as a platform on which she always feels comfortable sharing on because of its ability to feel both "private and public at the same time." They explained that in comparison to journaling, Twitter has allowed "them to see some sort of reaction to their thoughts" and that "knowing someone has heard [them] out is nice." J.Y. then discussed TikTok as an example platform where they are hesitant to post by providing their thought process of why they struggled to post a dance video. They explained that with the public nature of the TikTok ecosystem, as well as the threat of virality that its algorithm posed, they were a lot more hesitant in that they had to make sure they looked nice or didn't come across as behaving oddly. J.Y. passionately spoke of the "social sanctions of social media" and the rise of influencer culture's effect on they post since "any post can go viral for any reason."

J.Y. cited Instagram as the social media platform they are most hesitant to post on, relating their hesitancy to unspoken norms observed on the app:

I feel like there has become a culture of wanting to be lowkey, so there is a need to be very nonchalant in your posting. You can't post too often. You can't post a photo that is too posed. If you do post often it is because you have engagement. Making sure you can balance all of it at the same time is the thought process of posting.

When asked what types of reactions J.Y. is afraid they'll ellicit in their followers, they claimed they are afraid of "people assuming [their] behaviors and intent for posting something." S.C. had expressed similar sentiment earlier when they mentioned how they were afraid of his followers perceiving his posts as brags. More interestingly, J.Y. talks about their 'finsta,' thoughtfully describing it as a 'private journal [they] can use and only a few people have the key to it." There, they post candidly, showing life being the scenes and the extra content that didn't make it to their main account. Like S.C., when asked about their camera roll and how they shared images, J.Y. said that images they saved tend to be for themselves, until they feel like "there is a good accumulation of them for [them] to post on social media." They enjoy themes of photos or photos that look similar as they like posting on social media with "a specific purpose." When asked if they were considered sharing the photos they take, they hesitated before responding. They rationalized that they send pictures individually to their friends in the case that they know their friends would directly want to see it. When they take pictures, they intend for their pictures to either become actionable or reference something that was discussed beforehand. In discussing their experience scrolling through their camera roll with their friends, J.Y. seemed joyful and sentimental as they described those moments as "really connecting," in that they "use the photos as a means to tell a story with them" and sharing about their lives together.

Design Opportunities ​

1. Unpacking the posts: Both S.C. and J.Y. express how they are most comfortable aggregating their experiences and creating collections of memories when creating posts for their Instagrams. However, they also greatly enjoy scrolling through their camera rolls with their friends and telling the stories of what they were doing at each particular moment. We should explore ways in which we can make it comfortable for users to faithfully documemt and share our lives on a day to day level.
2. Promoting Intimacy: J.Y. claims that no matter how casual a social media platform intends to be, they still feel watched. Both J.Y. and S.C expressed hesitancy in posting because their followers varied in levels of familarity which poses the risk of facing judgement. Additionally, J.Y. claims that the simultaneous public and private nature of Twitter allows them to post unfiltered but still feel seen. How else can we strike a good balance between "private" and "public" in regards to photosharing such that users feel seen but not judged?
3. Sharing Self and Authenticity: Both S.C. and J.Y. revealed that they only felt comfortable sharing moments that felt meaningful enough to capture for themselves with others if they felt that others were interested. We should consider a design that encourages users to post their authentic selves as well as encourage other users to be authentic.