1.3 Interview Detailed Conclusion and Recordings
Readers: Cutey
Date: 2023-09-10
Foundation Talks:
Although busy during workdays, she always finds her life with social media and enjoys being with all kinds of friends across different interests. As a heavy social network user, she finds her online social group from her own interest, gaming and following celebrities. She keeps a line between each social group, uses different identity on different online platform, and strategically isolate herself from surrounding colleagues and families. For example, she uses Weibo (Twitter-like public social media) to follow celebrities. While at Bilibili (the YouTube counterpart in China) to attended gaming streaming and fan club.
We talked about major categories of social media: private messaging, text+imaging, and video-based social platforms. The public social platform usually becomes the first contact point for meeting strangers online. They usually provide "like", and" follow" functions to let people interact with each other, or chat privately through private messaging functionalities (mostly anonymous and not related to real life). When people establish a closer connection, they tend to switch to a private messaging platform, in the Chinese context, it is WeChat, where people can show their location and daily life. We also discussed converting online relationships to offline ones. We found that the conversion rate is relatively low when the purpose is to meet the opposite sex; whereas the conversion rate is relatively high for common interests in hobbies and games. I found both transitions interesting because people tend to have their intuitions of intimacy defined by social software. This is a parameter that needs the software designer to consider seriously.
Interesting Findings:
We discussed a niche online social networking app called "2 Dogs." This app focuses on connecting single young adults with higher educational backgrounds by filtering by identity and occupation. The platform is carefully designed to be not anonymous. It has interesting features such as "Paper Plane," guiding users to chat with strangers and share their feelings based on a meticulous recommendation system.
At last, we discussed the need for anonymity. Cutey mentioned the case of South Korea, where everyone should use their real name on social media. However, trolling and attacks still widely exist. She believes trolling's inner motivation is the physical separation that makes people aggressive.
Interview Recording (In Chinese)
Posters: Zhen Kai and Bee Brother
Date: 2023-09-11
Foundation Talks:
Both interviewees are professional beekeepers with more than 5 years of experience. They both have robust professional social networks, Zhen's is from his family background, and Bee Brother is through social platforms. They use built-in video editing tools and finish videos at a fast pace: a few minutes each (Zhen) or a few hours (Bee Brother). They all update on most of the mainstream video social networks in China: TikTok, Kuaishou, and WeChat Moments. Bee Brother produces longer, more informative videos, so he also updates on the Chinese YouTube counterpart, Bilibili, where long videos are more acceptable. Zhen is younger and accepts new platforms such as Xiaohongshu (the Instagram counterpart featuring knowledge sharing).
I asked both posters about revenue and profits. Both of them believe that social networks enable them to earn higher incomes and find more customers, especially special ones that seek not honey, but professional services such as farm visits. Each of their videos receives around 20000+ plays, peaks at 50000+, and makes 300+ USD each.
Interesting Findings:
Interestingly, both farmers have not accepted advertisements. Key reasons include the follower has not met their expectations and restrictions and obligations by the providers. Both farmers did online streaming, but haven't received positive feedback - online streaming requires a backup team to operate, which may be a huge obstacle for individual posters.
One interesting talk is about the growing complexity of video-based social networking apps. Firstly, Zhen expressed his favorite social platform is not TikTokor Kuaishou, but Xianyu, the Chinese online flea market similar to eBay. He mentioned the simplex design and direct selling experiences make him satisfied. Compared with TikTok, it is required to deposit $3000 to be able to sell goods, in exchange for security and indemnify.
Another intriguing finding is the posters' growing need for identity isolation from their families and local friends. Bee's brother mentioned that he deliberately banned all people who know him locally or nearby, to avoid abrupt visits and embarrassment by finding he is the poster on the internet.
Lastly, we talked about the usage of apps during production. They need gloves to be able to operate the beehives and the environment is quite noisy and chaotic. The phone will be placed further than normal usage. Considering the average age of farmers, it is necessary to include accessibility design in such apps.