Assignment 1
Design Hunch
I want to build a social media platform for readers and book enthusiasts (since Goodreads and other apps have poor social functionality). Specifically, I want to:
- Encourage people to socially/collaboratively read more
- Enable people to share insights from their books and feel like they’re learning something over time
Interview Reports
My first interview was with Anna, who studied computer science and history in college and is currently working as a data scientist. Anna is mindful of her usage of social media and restricts the amount of time she spends on apps. I asked her about the types of interactions she has on social media, and found it interesting that she follows friends from real life on platforms like Twitter and Instagram but usually doesn’t interact with them directly on the platforms. Rather, she often sends them content from those platforms through direct messages on platforms like iMessage or Messenger. This was an interesting contradiction to how I would imagine these platforms were intended to be used. In general, she doesn’t post publicly on these platforms either, instead preferring to share her thoughts privately with friends or casually on a private spam account.
I also spoke with her about her reading habits and usage of apps like Goodreads. She explained that she usually talks to her friends about books and media about "emotionally significant parts" that she encounters while reading. She thinks deeply about which friends would enjoy certain pieces of content, and messages them individually to give them recommendations. I found it interesting that she doesn’t track recommendations that she has received on Goodreads or other platforms built for that purpose; rather, she chooses to list them separately in a notes document. Furthermore, I was surprised by the fact that she reads more when she’s stressed (rather than less); based on my own experience, I assumed that people would need more help reading more consistently when they’re busier. Finally, observing her use Goodreads helped me understand her thought process as a user when deciding what pieces of content to interact with and post about.
My second interview was with Shreya, a current medical student who studied cognitive science and music in college. Shreya stated that she enjoys using Instagram and Facebook to connect with friends from her past that she doesn’t see as often in real life anymore. Like Anna, Shreya said that she also frequently shares content from one platform with friends through direct messages. She explained that she is often frustrated by the difficulty of this experience sending content across different platforms.
Shreya’s reading habits were similar to Anna’s in many ways: she explained that when she’s stressed, reading usually helps calm her down — however, when she’s really stressed, she often feels guilty about reading because she thinks that she should be doing "more productive” things. Additionally, she also spends lots of time thinking about which friends she can recommend certain books to. I asked her about her note-taking habits when reading books, and found it interesting that she prefers annotating books within the copy (either physical or pdf) rather than in a separate document/platform because she likes having her notes associated permanently with the book afterwards. Finally, I appreciated her insights about Goodreads’ and Wattpad’s reading communities (or lack thereof, which I thought was interesting). She stated that she enjoyed the "supportive and passionate" reading environments of Wattpad, and explained that she uses Goodreads to read others’ reviews to compare her own thoughts on particular books more than she uses it to keep up with friends’ activity. One of her anectodates that particulary struck me was about a reading group that she recently participated in: she explained that she didn’t know most of the people beforehand but got to connect with them and get to know them based on their interpretations of the book they were reading. She stated that she especially enjoyed being in a reading group because they got to “skip the small talk” and could instead go straight to discussing the book itself, a benefit that I personally hadn't considered before.
Design Opportunities
Make it easier to see at a glance what others are reading:
I think there’s a great opportunity to try presenting updates from friends in a format that’s different from the activity feed concept that’s used by Goodreads and other platforms. Why? Users like Anna want to be able to easily see what all their friends are currently reading so that they can discuss with them (or read together), but the activity feed approach buries this information in a long list that’s hard to scroll through.
Create easier ways to recommend books to specific friends, rather than having to DM them separately:
I want to experiment with different ways for people to directly recommend books and content to their friends without having to copy and paste a link into a messaging app. Why? Users like Anna and Shreya are frequently having individual conversations with others about new books to read, but this isn’t integrated into the platforms they’re currently using to discover new books or track their own reading progress.
Asynchronous book clubs / reading groups:
I want to explore the possibility of having book-specific discussion spaces that enable people to post their thoughts as they read the book. One possible idea for this is to have separate discussion threads for each chapter of a book that users can view and post in as they read the book at their own pace. Why? Users like Anna and Shreya want a way to discuss books they’re currently reading with others who are also doing the same; they enjoy comparing their thoughts and reactions to those of others. However, they might not have a reading group that they can join, or have the bandwidth to keep up with a strict schedule: instead, this allows them to read at their own pace.
Collaborative, asynchronous note-taking for books:
I plan to explore the idea of having users be able to see notes from their friends (passages they highlighted, etc.) at the top of each chapter discussion page/thread previously described above. Why? Users like Shreya take notes while reading when they intentionally want to remember insights or because they want to jot down notes for friends, but people often aren’t reading at the same pace or at the same time. Instead, they usually read a book after their friends have done so and recommended it to them. This feature would enable users to more organically see what their friends thought about the book and talk about specific parts instead of having to reach out and ask them what they thought.
Other Materials
Planning Notes (including interviewee ideas, question ideas)
Reasoning for interview choices:
To explore my hunch, I want to interview a reading enthusiast who isn't currently a student and thus has less structured/built-in time for reading and reflecting on books. I also want to talk to people who use social media platforms that I currently don't (and vice versa).
- I want to interview Anna so I can understand what social media and reading habits are common to someone who works full-time and doesn’t see friends daily anymore. She also uses Goodreads often, but is not very active on social media platforms in general (which differs from my perspective).
- I want to interview Shreya so I can understand the perspective of someone who has very little time to use social media or read (due to medical school) and is also a published author. I aim to ask her about her experiences on social media as a reader versus a writer, a perspective that I do not have.
Overall goals for interview:
- Understand most popular social media apps and what tasks/connections people enjoy using them for
- Understand main blockers for reading more / more often
- Find out if not feeling like you’ve actually absorbed anything from books is a problem
- Understand how people currently talk to their friends about what they’re reading
- Understand how people currently find new books to read
- Understand what people’s reading goals are like
- Understand how social of an experience the act of reading currently is for people (do they read with people? talk about books with people?)
Note-taking strategy:
- Record audio
- Type notes in questions list, fill in the gaps by listening to the recording afterwards
Question brainstorming:
(Potential follow-up questions are indented)
General social media:
- Which social media platforms do you currently use?
- How often do you use each of them? Which platform do you use the most and why?
- What time of day do you use _____?
- How often do you use each of them? Which platform do you use the most and why?
- Who do you usually communicate/connect with on ____, and why? (irl/close friends, strangers, etc.)
- Why is ___ important to you? What sorts of benefits do you feel that it gives you?
Real life -> social media:
- Tell me about the last time something funny or notable happened to you or that you witnessed in real life. Did you share it online?
- What about an insight that you had, either on your own or prompted by reading a book or listening to a podcast? Did you share it online? Where?
Usage:
- When you open ____, what’s the first thing you do and why?
- Each time you open ____, how long do you usually use it for? What tasks do you usually do each time and why?
- What’s your favorite thing to do on ____?
- Complete this sentence: “The most frustrating thing about using ___ is….”
- Who do you follow on ____? Just irl friends, or also influencers/strangers? Why?
- How often do you post on these platforms? For what occasions do you post? Who do you most want to see your posts?
- Are there things you currently want to be able to do on ____ but can’t?
Reading habits and goals:
- How often do you read (how many times per week, and how many times per day (and what times of day))? How long do you read when you open a book?
- How often do you want to read? For how long do you want to read?
- Do you set yearly/monthly/etc reading goals, and why?
- Can you tell me about a time (or the last time) when you were in a reading slump? How do you try to get out of slumps?
- How do you currently find new books to read?
- (How do you decide which new book to read, if you’re choosing from a list?)
- Which genres do you read? Are you trying to diversify?
- Have you ever kept a reading log? When was the last time you did?
Social aspects of reading:
- Are your friends also into reading?
- How do you find out what your friends are reading?
- Have you ever been part of a book club or reading group? Why or why not? When was the last time you were?
Note-taking and referencing:
- Do you take notes while reading? Do you highlight specific parts? Why?
- How often do you refer back to these notes in the future?
- Do you ever reread books? Why?
Other reading:
- What do you do immediately after finishing a book? Why?
- Can you tell me about a time (or the last time) when you finished a really good book that you wanted to talk about with someone or share with the world? What did you do next?
Raw Notes for Interview #1 (Anna)
Questions asked (not always listed in these notes, but for each question, I usually followed up with “Why?” or something similar if they didn’t explain their reasoning in-depth)General social media:
Which social media platforms do you currently use?
TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Snapchat, BeReal
How often do you use each of them? Which platform do you use the most?
Deleted most of them from phone; uses Pinterest the most
Uses Pinterest every hour for a few minutes each time
Questions about most used social media (Pinterest):
Why is Pinterest important to you? What sorts of benefits do you feel that it gives you?
Mental break from work
What kinds of content do you view?
Travel photos, outfit inspiration for events, Tumblr screenshots about books or media she’s currently consuming
Complete this sentence: “The most frustrating thing about using Pinterest is….”
On mobile app, exiting out of a pin or post or your profile (swiping down) causes refresh of the whole page
Want to just exit out of one level, not the whole homepage
Who do you follow on Pinterest? Just irl friends, or also influencers/strangers? Why?
Don’t follow particular people; just look at random posts
How often do you post on Pinterest? For what occasions do you post? Who do you most want to see your posts?
Doesn’t make public posts; just pins things to private boards
Are there things you currently want to be able to do on Pinterest but can’t?
No, happy that she doesn’t get too addicted (vs. TikTok or Twitter)
Questions about second most used social media platform (Twitter):
How often do you use Twitter? What times of day and for how long?
Once in morning, lunch, when she gets home (will just sit and scroll) At work during breaks; will use desktop app
Who do you follow on Twitter? Why?
Not that many famous people, some irl friends
Just looks at random content or she’ll search particular keywords
Twitter just knows the content that she likes
Will send tweets she sees to friends on different platforms
Questions about sharing real-life experiences on social media:
Tell me about the last time something funny or notable happened to you or that you witnessed in real life. Did you share it online? With whom?
Will post on private Instagram account reserved for close irl friends
Frequency varies: once every several days to every few months
Posts about things that happened irl, books and media she’s enjoying/reacting to
Posts for friends bc she thinks they might find content interesting
What about an insight that you had, either on your own or prompted by reading a book or listening to a podcast? Did you share it online? Where?
For books, mostly uses Kindle so highlights it (and quotes are also saved to Goodreads)
Or will screenshot if using phone/laptop
Sometimes will post on Instagram (if enough energy)
Or will just send to a particular friend that’s relevant
Reading habits and goals:
How often do you read (how many times per week, and how many times per day (and what times of day))? How long do you read when you open a book?
Either reading 2-3 books at a time, or not reading at all
On average, reads a book every couple of weeks
Reads the most when she’s super busy (reads less when she has lots of free time) — surprising
Usually reads later in the day or before going to bed, for at least an hour
How often do you want to read? For how long do you want to read?
Satisfied with current amount of reading
Do you set yearly/monthly/etc reading goals?
Yes, sets yearly reading goal (number of books) on Goodreads
Starts off strong at the beginning of the year, but doesn’t focus on number goal from May–September; then reads a lot again at the end of the year
Has more specific goals like wanting to read about a particular topic or a particular genre
Are you actively trying to diversify the genres you’re reading?
No, not actively trying; mostly reads fantasy and history
Can you tell me about a time (or the last time) when you were in a reading slump?
Right now, because she’s been watching a lot of TV instead
But different from other slumps because she’s intentionally doing another activity, not just because she’s bored with the content she’s reading
How do you try to get out of slumps?
Doesn’t do anything particular
Usually passes within a week or two if she realizes she’s in a slump and wants to get out of it
How do you currently find new books to read?
TikTok; follows specific creators for specific genres and topics
Puts recommendations into a notes doc organized by genre/topic
Also uses Goodreads: recommendations from people she follows
How do you decide which new book to read, if you’re choosing from a list?
If reading heavier topics, continues with that if in the flow — or sometimes complete opposite if she needs a break from mentally consuming topics
Do you take notes while reading? Do you highlight specific parts?
Doesn’t take notes for physical books but will highlight if reading digitally
How often do you refer back to these notes in the future?
Sometimes will go back and refer if a friend is also reading
But will mostly just review highlights
Do you ever reread books? Why?
Only rereads emotionally significant parts of fictional books because feels like revisiting characters
What do you do immediately after finishing a book? Why?
Will text a friend if they’ve been talking about it
Will log on Goodreads, but doesn’t write reviews or give star ratings often
Will sometimes write about it in Notion if she isn’t feeling lazy
Inspired by Ali Abdaal (youtuber) to create her own system
Can you tell me about a time (or the last time) when you finished a really good book that you wanted to talk about with someone or share with the world? What did you do next?
Will post on Goodreads (write review) or post on Instagram (private account) as a story or post
Will text friends even if they haven’t talked about it before
How do you find out what your friends are reading?
Will text every month or two to talk about what they’re currently reading
Check Goodreads at her own pace when she feels like it
Will see friends post on their own spam accounts
Have you ever been part of a book club or reading group? Why or why not? When was the last time you were?
Once in high school, once in college, a casual group right now
Benefits she feels she gets from being in a reading group:
Nice to have overlap with people but also be introduced to new books
Questions about Goodreads:
What’s the first thing you do upon opening Goodreads?
Scrolls through main feed with friend updates
Will look at Goodreads’ recommendations, but they’re not very good
What do you use Goodreads most often for?
First, to see what friends are reading; second, to track books: read / want to read
Who do you follow on Goodreads? Why?
Mostly friends, a few influencers she found through TikTok, a few in the literary space To get good recommendations
What’s your criteria for liking a post/update on Goodreads?
Will only interact with friends’ posts, will sometimes like or comment if they’re reading something that she’s passionate about or interested in
How often do you look at your own profile on Goodreads? For what purposes?
Looks at own profile for her to-read list, whenever she finishes a book and is looking for a new book
How often do you write reviews on Goodreads? Is there anything that prevents you from writing more often?
Doesn’t write reviews/rate books as often; annoyed that you can’t assign half stars and doesn’t like rounding
Can’t tell if her feelings right after finishing a book or weeks after are more accurate so then ends up not reviewing at all
Have you tried any alternatives to Goodreads?
Storygraph as a backup version to Goodreads
Just copies over stuff from Goodreads because her friends don’t use it and can’t follow anyone there, so doesn’t get good recommendations
Likes the statistics section (genres, mood, pace) on her personal profile
Questions about other social media:
Do you use Duolingo/BeReal/other apps that encourage you to use it every day? How often do you actually use them and why?
When Duolingo notifications were on, used every day because she wanted to keep the streak
For BeReal, doesn’t use as much now that she’s no longer in school because life feels monotonous/the same and photos aren’t as interesting
Goodreads usage observation (she screenshared and explained what she was doing as she used the platform as normal):
Scrolled through main feed
Clicked on book that she hasn’t seen before, checked reviews and to see whether other friends have read it
Looked at top reviews and filtered by most positive and negative reviews in particular to see strong opinions
Clicked on a book that she’s been wanting to read
Logged a book that she finished recently, talked about also needing to write a review
Scrolled through Kindle-synced highlights page — interesting, I’ve never used this before
Explained how she’ll also add notes directly here
Explained that she’s annoyed by sorting/filtering applying to all lists/bookshelves, not just the one she’s currently on (on the web version, at least)
Raw Notes for Interview #2 (Shreya)
Questions asked (not always listed in these notes, but for each question, I usually followed up with “Why?” or something similar if they didn’t explain their reasoning in-depth)General social media:
Which social media platforms do you currently use?
Instagram and Facebook
How often do you use each of them? Which platform do you use the most?
Instagram: 30 minutes to an hour each day
Facebook: a couple of times a week
Questions about most used social media (Instagram):
What kinds of content do you view / who do you follow on Instagram? Why?
Mostly friends from real life, but also fitness and nutrition content
To find new workouts and meals to try
What’s the first thing you do upon opening Instagram?
Check notifications, check if there are any comments or messages she needs to reply to
Then she scrolls through Reels if she’s bored
How often do you post on Instagram? For what occasions do you post?
Not too often; only a few times a month
For more significant occasions (white coat ceremony, etc.)
Are there things you currently want to be able to do on Instagram but can’t?
Wants a cleaner/easier way to share Instagram content across other platforms with friends
(ex: share Reels on Messenger more easily instead of having to copy and paste random link)
How often do you send friends content across platforms?
A couple of times a week
Why is Instagram important to you? What sorts of benefits do you feel that it gives you?
Helps her keep up with friends from past schools that she doesn’t talk to as often; likes seeing what everyone is up to and seeing their milestones
Questions about second most used social media (Facebook):
What kinds of content do you view / who do you follow on Facebook? Who do you most interact with on a day-to-day basis?
Uses Facebook to keep up with high school teachers and friends
Checks Facebook groups that she’s in for opportunities to reconnect
How often do you post on Instagram? For what occasions do you post?
Doesn’t post on Facebook because her current friends aren’t there
What’s the first thing you do upon opening Facebook?
Looks in her groups and sees what’s new
How many groups are you in that you regularly check?
3-4: school, cultural groups
Are there things you currently want to be able to do on Instagram but can’t?
Wants a cleaner/easier way to share Instagram content across other platforms with friends (ex: share Reels on Messenger more easily instead of having to copy and paste random link)
How often do you send friends content across platforms?
A couple of times a week
Why is Instagram important to you? What sorts of benefits do you feel that it gives you?
Helps her keep up with friends from past schools that she doesn’t talk to as often; likes seeing what everyone is up to and seeing their milestones
Real life -> social media:
Tell me about the last time something funny or notable happened to you or that you witnessed in real life. Did you share it online — if so, where and with whom?
Shared a funny medical autocorrect screenshot with med student friends on Instagram in group chat
How often do you share these kinds of moments on social media?
Only a few times a month; usually other content that she shares with friends are just other users’ posts that she sees
What about an insight that you had, either on your own or prompted by reading a book or listening to a podcast? Did you share it online? Where?
If book was recommended by a friend, she’ll tell them what she thought of it
Public/private posts, or just DMs?
Usually just DMs, usually not public
Reading habits and goals:
How often do you read (how many times per week, and how many times per day (and what times of day))? How long do you read when you open a book?
Usually one book every two weeks, but less now that she’s in medical school
Before she goes to bed, 30 minutes to an hour
How often do you want to read? For how long do you want to read?
Definitely wanted to read more
Didn’t get to read every day even when she did have the time to read regularly; interrupted by events
Do you set yearly/monthly/etc reading goals?
Used to, but not anymore because current schedule is too unpredictable
Can you tell me about a time (or the last time) when you were in a reading slump?
When she’s stressed, reading usually helps — but when she’s really stressed, she feels guilty about reading because she feels that she should be doing more “productive” things
But she wants to get out of this mindset because reading is good for her
How do you try to get out of slumps? Do you do anything intentionally/actively?
Look at friends’ recommendations, get friends to read her own writing so that she feels inspired to read/write again
Do you take notes while reading? Do you highlight specific parts?
Yes for nonfiction, when she wants to really understand ideas and remember for the future / apply them in real life
Likes highlighting in order to distill information without having to come up with original thoughts
How often do you refer back to these notes in the future?
If the book is super useful, looks back very often
Do you take notes in writing or on a digital platform (or somewhere else)?
Annotates either in physical copy of book or pdf; doesn’t write in a separate document
because she would forget that existed — likes putting it in the book so it’s associated with it forever
What do you do immediately after finishing a book? Why?
If it’s super impactful, thinks about it for a while
Thinks about who to recommend the book to
Looks on Goodreads and checks the reviews for the book to see if other people felt the same way
How do you currently find new books to read?
Goodreads suggestions, recommendations that specific friends have given her, Instagram content
Have you ever been part of a book club or reading group? Why or why not? When was the last time you were?
Yes; was in a book club last spring with fellow students (didn’t know most of them beforehand)
Got to know members better through the book club
Benefits she feels she gets from being in a reading group:
Loves getting to skip small talk and go straight to talking about the book itself
Already know that everyone has something in common (read the book)
Loves learning about other people based on their interpretations and what they take away from the book
How often did your book club meet?
Once a week
Questions about using social media as a published author:
Have you used social media to connect with other writers?
Yes, Wattpad — especially in her early days
Loved the community of kids just writing things and giving each other feedback / being supportive of each other / learning from each other
Do you still use Wattpad currently?
Doesn’t use as much now because she feels that it’s been corporatized (paid stories, for-profit) and the community has changed
Have you used social media to connect with readers or publicize your book?
Yes, posted on Facebook and created an Instagram account for her book
How was your experience with this process?
Would like to be able to reach a more specific audience through content personalization
Questions about Goodreads:
What do you use Goodreads most often for?
Looking at other people’s reviews and interpretations of books that she’s read
How often do you write reviews on Goodreads? Is there anything that prevents you from writing more often?
Rates books but doesn’t write reviews because she hasn’t had enough time to do so
Have you tried any alternatives to Goodreads?
No, not familiar with any
Other social media:
Do you use Duolingo/BeReal/other apps that encourage you to use it every day? How often do you actually use them and why?
Yes, uses Duolingo every day — she’s surprised by how well it works and the fact that she really does use it daily
Do you use it when prompted by the notification or just because it’s a habit?
Mix of both, sometimes because it’s a habit and sometimes when she’s just bored
After interview:
Voluntarily shared that she would love a Wattpad-Goodreads hybrid for passionate, supportive communities to discuss books/writing