Presenters: Michael Sharon – Facebook , Tom Watson – Facebook, Justin Shaffer – Hotpotato
By itself, mobile devices are immersive – it’s always with you and provides a way for you to exist in a physical or mental place other than where you currently are. Tools that have been added to those devices have made them “social hubs,” allowing you to connect with others almost anywhere. There are several things which will continue to evolve to make it even more social.
Friends – Above all, users will tell and demonstrate that this is most important. However, the debate is what information people want from their friends. When Facebook changed its mobile friend feed from alphabetized to most recent, it saw an enormous spike in use. The next debate is figuring out if people want to see the “Top News” or “Most Recent.” More and more, you’ll see a combination of your Facebook contacts merging with your address book to make sure you have the most updated contact information as well. Finally, Facebook Connect is even making the gaming experience more social as people can connect games and apps to their friends.
Notifications – There are two types of notifications people are interested in – Active, or what’s happening now, and Passive, or what’s happened since I last checked. While “push” features make active notifications easier, there’s a fine line between wanted updates and spam. Therefore, it is extremely important to test this feature before implementation.
Sharing – Facebook knows that people want to share photos (and more and more video and audio). What has helped this explode has been the speed at which someone can post a photo from a mobile device, and the added ability to “tag” people in photos. Tagging photos has significantly increased photo viewing as sharing photos becomes a social experience.
Serendipity – The introduction of location based services help you figure out which of your friends is nearby. This feature has already been implemented by Foursquare, Gowalla, HotPotato, etc.
Discovery – While finding out a friend is nearby is serendipitous, there’s also the potential to discover new people or events. Mobile offers the ability to do this even better, but what we have yet to see are the privacy implications and the ability to see both your friends and people you don’t know who are nearby (or at the same event).
Control – There has been an explosion in where you can post content. The same photo/message can be uploaded to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc. in the click of a button. Users want to know how they can decide where to send it, and “take it back” if necessary (which apparently happens WAY more often than you might think).
Intent – Tools need to be designed to elicit the response you’re looking for. Make it easy to find the way you want people to participate and put it right up front.
Feedback – Commenting provides a cycle of reinforcement and mobile makes this instantaneous. Feedback is essential, whether it’s comments or Rewards (like Foursquare badges or Gowalla virtual items). Giving somebody something to respond to makes it social.
Mobile becoming more social will be driven by 3 things – Touch, Speed, and Connection
Touch – How it’s designed and what it information it can allow you to share. An emerging element of touch is a phone that automatically monitors things – temperature, location, weather, altitude, etc. Things must be designed for the medium (Facebook’s mobile experience diverges significantly from its web experience) and the context in which it will be used.
Speed – Devices are become faster and can do more, but it’s also about the speed of transferring information through networks (getting this information into the cloud and not just onto the device).
Connection – API’s will rule the future. It’s about connecting all of your networks and information together and allowing the user to determine how/when/what/where/etc. is shared.
