Assignment 6: User Testing & Analysis
Task List:
| Task | Instruction | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Sign Up | Create a new account and choose whether to be a Spotliter or a spectator. Go through the process of setting up an account. | This will test the ease of the sign-up process and the clarity of the Spotliter/spectator choice. |
| Update user preferences | Change your profile picture, bio, and anonymous mode. | This will test the efficiency of changing your preferences, as well as the overall flow and functionality of the settings page. |
| Explore current SpotLiters, and search for other posts/users. | Explore who has been selected as a SpotLiter this week, and try to find their profile and posts. | This will test the learnability of the SpotLite concept with the SpotInfo cards. It will also test if the SpotInfo cards are informative or useful for users, as well as testing the usability of the search page. |
| Content Interaction | Upvote and downvote posts and comments, and add and reply to comments. React to the content and give feedback what you think of the content being posted. | This will test the visibility and functionality of the upvote/downvote functionality, as well test the flow and usability of the commenting. It will also test out the SpotLite concept by seeing if it indeed breaks down echo chambers or not. |
| SpotLite posting | Create a post as a SpotLiter and explore your profile page while in SpotLite mode. | This will test the functionality of creating a post. It will also help provide an answer to the SpotLite experiment as a whole, where the question of “if a random person suddenly gets the attention of a million users, what would they say/post?” may start to be answered. |
Study 1:
Study 1 Report:
The first user study of the Spotlite social media app provided valuable insights into user interactions, potential issues, and areas for improvement. The participant's feedback was a balanced mix of positive and negative aspects, offering a comprehensive understanding of the app's usability and functionality.
One of the key findings from the study was the need for a more comprehensive onboarding process. The participant found the initial login process somewhat confusing, suggesting that the concept of Spotlite was not immediately clear. They proposed a multi-step login process to better explain the app's unique features and functionalities, especially the SpotLite concept. The participant thought that without prior knowledge, the SpotLite concept would be difficult to understand since the app doesn’t explain it in the beginning and just directly asks the user to opt-in or out. This feedback indicates that a more detailed onboarding process could help users better understand the app's premise and how to navigate it effectively.
The participant also encountered some difficulties with the user interface. They were unaware that they needed to scroll sideways to view more Spotliter info cards, suggesting that the swipe-to-view feature was not intuitive. Additionally, the 'add a new comment' button was perceived as a label rather than an interactive element. This feedback indicates a potential design flaw that could be addressed to improve the user experience.
In terms of content discovery, the participant found the posts to be random and expressed a desire for a more tailored experience. They suggested the implementation of an algorithm to personalize content to individual users, since otherwise if anybody can say anything then it might just be too random and all over the place for the general user. This feedback suggests that a more personalized user experience could potentially increase user engagement and satisfaction.
However, not all feedback was negative. The participant appreciated the upvoting and downvoting feature, feeling it acted as a check against spam and self-promotion. This indicates that this feature effectively promotes quality content and discourages misuse. Furthermore, the participant praised the app's clean and modern aesthetic, suggesting that the app's design is appealing and user-friendly.
In conclusion, the participant's feedback highlighted several areas for improvement, particularly in the onboarding process and user interface design. However, the positive reception of the voting system and the app's aesthetic suggests that Spotlite has a strong foundation to build upon. Future iterations of the app should focus on enhancing the user experience through improved onboarding, intuitive design, and personalized content discovery.
Study 1 Opportunities for Improvement:
- Onboarding Process (Conceptual, Major): The participant found the initial login and onboarding process unclear, indicating a lack of understanding of the Spotlite concept. This is probably because of the insufficient explanation of the app's unique features and functionalities during the sign-up process. Future designs could include a more comprehensive onboarding process, such as a multi-step tutorial or a welcome guide, to ensure users understand the app's premise and how to navigate it effectively.
- User Interface Design (Physical, Moderate): The participant struggled with some aspects of the user interface, such as the need to scroll sideways to view more Spotliter info cards and the unclear 'add a new comment' button. These issues likely stem from a lack of intuitive design cues. Future implementations could address this by incorporating more intuitive design elements, such as visual cues for swiping or clearer labeling and positioning of interactive elements.
- Content Personalization (Conceptual, Moderate): The participant found the posts to be random and expressed a desire for more tailored content. This could be due to the lack of a content personalization algorithm. To address this, future designs could incorporate a recommendation algorithm that tailors content based on a user's interests and previous interactions. This could enhance user engagement and satisfaction by providing a more personalized user experience.
Study 2:
Study 2 Report:
The second user study offered further insights into the app's functionality, usability, and areas for improvement. The participant first found the overall functionality of the app to be good, noting that it was intuitive and familiar to other social media apps. This positive feedback suggests that the app's design and functionality are user-friendly and align with users' expectations based on their experience with other social media platforms.
However, the participant pointed out that the initial user setup process was lacking. They noted that upon setting up their user account, their personal page appeared bland with no photo or bio, and there was no prompt to update it. This feedback indicates a potential opportunity for improvement in the user setup process. Incorporating a profile setup sequence at the beginning or adding edit buttons on the profile page could encourage users to create a more personalized and engaging profile.
The participant also found the settings page to be cluttered with numerous options. They suggested that these options could be organized into sections or sub-pages for better organization. This feedback suggests a need for improved information architecture to enhance the user experience.
In terms of user interaction, the participant expressed a desire to be able to click on usernames on the feed to view their profiles. This feedback indicates a potential feature addition that could enhance user engagement and interaction within the app.
The participant then appreciated the nested comment trees but suggested the ability to close each thread or tree, similar to Reddit. This feedback suggests that users value control over their viewing experience and that implementing such a feature could improve user satisfaction. However, the participant noted the absence of a feature to report posts, which could potentially lead to spamming and low-quality posts. This feedback highlights a potential flaw in the app's content moderation system.
Lastly, the participant expressed uncertainty about why they would use Spotlite over other social media apps. They suggested that the content would need to be more categorized or focused to keep them engaged. This feedback suggests a need for a more defined value proposition or unique selling point to attract and retain users.
In conclusion, the participant's feedback highlighted several areas for improvement, particularly in the user setup process, information architecture, user interaction, and content moderation. However, the positive feedback on the app's overall functionality and intuitive design suggests that Spotlite has a solid foundation to build upon. Future iterations of the app should focus on enhancing the user experience through improved user setup, better organization of settings, enhanced user interaction, and stricter content moderation.
Study 2 Opportunities for Improvement:
- User Profile Setup (Conceptual, Moderate): The participant found their initial user profile to be bland and unengaging, with no prompt to add a photo or bio. This issue stems from a lack of guidance during the setup process. Future designs could incorporate a profile setup sequence at the beginning or add edit buttons on the profile page to encourage users to create a more personalized and engaging profile.
- Settings Organization (Physical, Minor): The participant found the settings page cluttered and suggested that options could be organized into sections or sub-pages. This indicates a need for improved information architecture. Future implementations could address this by categorizing settings into logical groups or using sub-pages to reduce clutter and enhance navigability.
- User Interaction (Physical, Moderate): The participant expressed a desire to click on usernames in the feed to view their profiles. This suggests that users want more interactivity and ways to explore other users' content. Future designs could incorporate this feature to enhance user engagement and interaction within the app.
- Comment Navigation (Physical, Minor): While the participant appreciated the nested comment trees, they suggested the ability to close each thread or tree, similar to Reddit. This feedback indicates that users value control over their viewing experience. Future implementations could include this feature to improve user satisfaction and ease of navigation within comment threads.
- Content Moderation (Linguistic, Major): The participant noted the absence of a feature to report posts, which could potentially lead to spamming and low-quality posts. This feedback highlights a potential flaw in the app's content moderation system. Future designs should consider incorporating a reporting feature to allow users to flag inappropriate content, helping to maintain the quality of content on the platform.