W3C Workshop on
the Future of Social Networking
Authors: Julian
Pye, Wolfgang Schuster, Patrick Waters
Vodafone
Introduction
With the increasing mobility
of social network applications, Vodafone is very interested in optimizing
enhanced system usability and offering users the best possible experience of
social networks with mobile devices.
Many aspects are of interest
to us, including topics such as: advanced social graphs; user value and
motivation; advanced business models; distinctions between general social
networks (personal, career) and segment networks (interest-focused, virtual
worlds); filtering (blacklists, whitelists,
intelligent filtering); automatic generation and
parsing/processing of activity feeds.
In this paper we would like to
focus on the topic of adding context to location: What are the specific
differences in how users use social networks on mobile and stationary devices?
Consequently, how can the user experience and interface be optimized
accordingly on mobile devices?
Adding
Context to Location
The current buzzword for
mobile applications is ‘location-based’. For most current applications, this
means determining location information and offering solutions for users to find
information and directions relevant to their current position.
For social networking
applications location information is however dependent on the context that
location takes on in the personal and social life of the user. If we assume
many users using multiple social networks for different purposes (career,
personal) with many different contacts (close friends, acquaintances, business
contacts which may be local, regional or remote) a mobile device that can
enable access to many contacts on many networks should also consider the
context and social situation.
Location and
temporal context (i.e. what role does the location play at the specific time in
the life of the user)
Usage dimension in
the context of the ‘three screens’
Lean-forward context
(extended, in-depth access and participation)
Users will wish to
communicate with members from their entire social network; make the
equivalent to the ‘Sunday evening calls’ to remote friends; create declaratory
activity feed statements; edit and submit artistic and long-term photos and
other media;
Lean-back context (content
consumption, ‘living room’ environment)
Users will wish to
communicate and participate with a global community of people who share common
interests (television series, movies, gaming); create automated activity feeds
based on your consumption and interest of culture and popular culture; document
achievements on living room platforms such as gaming;
On-the-go context (brief,
intuitive access):
Users will wish to
communicate with people who live in their vicinity, who they were in contact
with the day before and people who they will be in contact with today and
tomorrow, they will wish to create immediate activity feeds that express their
current emotions which may be volatile and ephemeral, and to submit photos and
media as instant, immediate and potentially volatile impressions
Adapting the
user experience according to context
According to the requirements
determined by the location and context, the user interface of a mobile device
should be adapted accordingly, prioritizing special groups of contact as well
as special social functions. As an example during working hours users probably
would prefer social network applications to have a career-related focus with
business contacts gaining priority and with personal contacts focusing more on
the closer and regional circle of friends. Equally, in leisure time work
contacts should ‘move to the back’: once you leave your workplace and visit
friends, work-related applications and profiles should have lower priority on
the user interface. As a further example later on at night, during leisure time
users’ activity feed generated should not be broadcasted to their work-relevant
circles.
Another aspect is that the
usability aspects should accommodate various amounts of contact pools (from
small to large) and functionality sets (from limited to rich) in order not to
overwhelm novice users and in order to offer all necessary tools to expert
users. As an example a novice social networks user with double digit contacts
will need different tools and feed filters than someone with triple digit
contacts; in order to allow users with small contact pools with little activity
to extend their session other types of more standalone applications need to be
offered. For users who have crossed the ‘critical mass’ threshold social
applications can be offered that make use of large contact pools.
It also will become important
for social networks to ‘forget’ content, by ranking content lower in priority
or even filtering it out from the public view after a specific expiry period.
This may be especially useful for very volatile and ephemeral content and
activity feeds. In additionally private content such as recorded content of
direct communication (voice, messaging) could be integrated as private content
in a user’s ‘life-feed’ and be hidden from sharing by default.
Conclusion
The mobile device is uniquely
positioned for social networks as it accompanies users during their entire
social and life situations. Once the phone gains awareness regarding the social
situation in addition to the pure location information of the user, it can make
use of the situation and offer users the optimal usability experience for
accessing and using social applications, as well as in aiding them to optimize
privacy settings of their own ‘life feed’.
Over time, with context and adaptation that will
increase the usability and relevance of the social network experiences, the
mobile will provide increased value to these applications beyond fulfilling an
immediacy need that the mobile already offers.