User Generated
Communities Usability
Pedro Custódio
3rd Usablity Seminar
04.04.2007
Lisbon, Portugal

web 1.0
Information

web 1.0
User
=
Consumer

web 1.0

web 2.0
User

web 2.0
User
=
Consumer + Producer

web 2.0

web 2.0 Social Web
“ The Social Web refers to an open global distributed data
sharing network similar to today's World Wide Web, except
instead of linking documents, the Social
Web will link
people, organizations, and concepts. ”

Social Web
User
=
Consumer +
Producer +
Editor

Social Web
User
=
Center of the Universe

Communities
com·mu·ni·ty
1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality,
share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
2. a locality inhabited by such a group.
3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common
characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in
some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually prec. by
the): the business community; the community of scholars.
4. a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common
heritage: the community of Western Europe.
5. Ecclesiastical. a group of men or women leading a common life according
to a rule.
6. Ecology. an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area.
7. joint possession, enjoyment, liability, etc.: community of property.
8. similar character; agreement; identity: community of interests.
9. the community, the public; society: the needs of the community.

Communities
Information
Virtual Community
User Interaction
Virtual Space

Communities
Multiple dimensions of a
Professional
community:
Location Psychological
Identity ....
Objectives

Communities
Every Community evolves
around a theme!
Flickr: photos / ThreadLess: t-shirts / Twitter: comunication / Wordpress:
blogs / Last.FM: music / Del.icio.us: bookmarks / ...

Communities
Membership steps:
Visitor
> Guest
> Consumer
> Member

Communities
We can classify
communities under 3
distinct types...

Communities
low social interaction
Communities
A community that requires low or no activity from its members.

Communities
communities
around “products”
communities centered around products or contents, originally
produced or augmented through the social features of the
community. This type of community already requires a stronger
interaction between its users.

Communities
highly collaborative
communities
Communities born from already pre-existing physical
communities or systems.

Better Usability
means
Better Communities
?

YeS

How?

It’s not enough to design
user centered
interfaces...

we also need to design
community centered
interfaces (CCI)!

Features
oriented for more
advanced users...

... (typically) drive away
less experienced users!

Graphic extracted from Alan Cooper’s book: “About Face 2.0”

Graphic extracted from Alan Cooper’s book: “About Face 2.0”

Graphic extracted from Alan Cooper’s book: “About Face 2.0”

Communities
A successful community normally implies
(among other factors) that it:
• allows and fosters personalization;
• incentives sharing and participation;
• facilitates content/information production;
• sbe based on top of an scalable platform;
• nurtures the so called social interactions;

Personalization
Through personalization, we can
foster self and free expression
inside the community

Personalization
The user PROFILE it’s his virtual
identity, is personality and skills
aggregator. It’s the bridge between
the real and the virtual person.

Personalization

Personalization

Personalization

Personalization
Avatars

Personalization

Personalization

Participation
Spaces within the community
dedicated to participation: comments,
forums, chats, groups and even blogs
help raise the feeling of belonging
between users and increase the value
within the community.

Participation

Participation

Participation

Conversational Design
Design of applications/systems
that not only allow but also
foster conversation among it’s
users.

Conversational Design
The conversation flows within
communities, however the community
itself only facilitates the conversation
thru its interfaces it should never try to
control the conversation!

Conversational Design

Conversational Design

Conversational Design

Conversational Design

Conversational Design
Incorporação de ferramentas de
partilha, que fomentem a partilha de
informação dentro e fora da
comunidade

Conversational Design

Conversational Design

Conversational Design

Conversational Design

Scalable Platform
Helping produce content by allowing
re-mixing pre-existing contents, co-
creating new contents and sharing
and importing contents with other
externl services.

Scalable Platform
API’s
open and well documented

Social Design
Every community requires
to provide some sort of
social features to it’s
members

Social Design

Social Design
Explicit vs Implicit
social features

Social Design
Contacts / Friends
Friends list is the new center of the universe!
“Through others I define myself”
Portuguese saying:
“Tell me who you go out with, and I’ll tell you
who you are!”

Social Design

Social Design

Social Design

Social Design

Social Design
Explicit vs Implicit
social features

Social Design

Social Design

Social Design

Social Design

Social Design
“FoF - Friends of Friends”

Social Design

Social Design
Reputation

Social Design
Not all users
are equal!

Social Design
VIP’s
Karma
User Stats

Social Design

Conclusions
Design having in mind the
user needs first!

Conclusions
Systems developed by experts,
usable by non experts!

Conclusions
Carefully plan the social
interactions, in particular the
features that facilitate them.

Conclusions
Allow and foster personalization,
production and sharing of new
content inside the community.

Conclusions
Design and implement a
reputation system within the
community, one will allow
members to build a reputation
thru participation.

Conclusions
Base your community on
scalable platform
right from day one!

Questions?

Thank you!

Pedro Custódio
pedro.custodio@gmail.com
http://blog.centopeia.com