Mo.De.
Motivational Design

In summary,
what are social networks?
They are networks of
people.
Network: complex
systems.
People: psychological
and social dynamics.

We need to think differently
about social networks.
Technology enables usage
but that's not enough: the
dynamics interplay on the
interfaces, which are
considered social artefacts
in addition to being
cognitive.

Why do we need
motivations in design?
It’s because if we consider
systemic factors as
constraints and
opportunities, the
motivations are what fuel
social networks and make
them running, growing
and living entities.

The four pillars of
Motivational Design:
1. Functional Needs
2. Social Usability
3. Relational Motivations
4. Circadian Activity Flow

1.

Opening a channel isn’t enough
to make people participate.
flickr • 11164872@N04

The Functional Needs:
Needs and requirements of
the person and/or group
that are satisfied explicitly
by the system.

The Motivation:
Dynamic factor of animal
and human behavior that
activates and directs toward
an objective.

The Relational Motivations:
1. Competition
2. Excellence
3. Curiosity
4. Affection

The Relational Motivations:
competition.
The need to impose oneself
and/or his/hers beliefs.
The search for a
confrontation.
The accumulation of
aggressiveness.
Anger - Aggressivity
system

Example
Digg: no more charts
Digg was forced to remove
the “Top Diggers” chart.
The reason? Top diggers
were accused of
manipulating results to be
quot;at the topquot; and Digg
perceived this as ruining
the quality of the service.
http://blog.digg.com/?p=60

The Relational Motivations:
excellence.
The need to confirm one's
skills and quality self-worth.
The need for approval and
increase one's self-esteem.
Narcissism - Self

Example
Digg: the voting system
Digg’s voting design is very
simple and fast: one click
and you decide if the
content is good.
Note: while it isn’t clear at first glance, the
“vote down” feature exists as well. It’s
just harder to reach and use. Digg has a
“hybrid” voting design: two votes are
possible, but one is definitely easier.

The Relational Motivations:
curiosity.
The need for knowledge
and control.
The need to satisfy one's
exploratory instinct.
Research - Play
system

Example
FFFFOUND! arouses curiosity
FFFFOUND! is a service
focused on continual
visual creativity
stimulation. It associates
images and people together
in order to make affinities
and ideas emerge.

The Relational Motivations:
affection.
The need to share and be a
part of a community or
relationship that supports
individual actions and
thoughts, that also
functions as a shelter to
protect oneself.
Affection - Care
system

Example
LinkedIn: implicit and explicit
On LinkedIn groups and
recommendations are used
to raise one’s status.
Groups are used to display a
sort of “social identification
badge” .
Recommendations play a
role of reciprocal
acknowledgment.

11.

Social is overrated.
flickr • luc

Social Usability.
Social Usability is a quality
attribute that assesses
how easy social interactions
are to make.
The word “social usability”
also refers to the methods
for improving the ease of
human-human interactions
during the design process.

Social Usability properties:
interpersonal relations.
How easy is it to find other
people and connect to
them?
How easy is it to keep
those connections active?
How relevant are those
connections?

Example
FriendFeed: subtle contacts
FriendFeed designed an
interesting method to allow
people to discover other
people in a content-driven
situation.
It shows you a specific
content of someone you
don’t follow if a friend
comments on it.

Social Usability properties:
identity.
How rich is one's personal
identity expression?
How much are interests and
passions expressed?
How much are personal
distinctive traits shown?

Example
Facebook: profiles
Facebook, as a generic
social network (a social
network without any other
scope outside social
relations) is the best
example of a 360° profile.
Note: it’s curious that the page theme is
one of the few things that isn’t possible to
customize, it’s a kind of personalization
that allows a very good identity
expression at a glance.

Social Usability properties
communication.
How fast can a message
reach the other person?
How many messages can
one handle efficiently?
How easy is it to handle
conversations (1-to-1, 1-to-
some, 1-to-many)?

Example
Skype: with one, or many
Skype is a software that
allows very flexible and
lightweight communication
channel management:
personal 1-to-1, private 1-to-
some and public 1-to-many.
All of these with just a click.
This is true for both text
and voice (and file
exchange).

Social Usability properties:
groups emergence.
How easy is it to create
groups, aggregate and talk
around a common interest?
How active are groups once
estabilished?
How long do they last?
How important is to be a
part of the group?

Example
IRC: a new group is simple
This is an old friend. IRC is
centered on the room
metaphor, that’s just a way
to organize groups. A new
group is just a few clicks
away.
The IRC rooms: real time
interactions and a name can
easily build strong
relationships.

Circadian Activity Flow.
It’s the sequence of small
and big actions made during
the span of a day, prioritized
through competing
individual value hierarchies:
importance, interest,
obligations, easiness, moral,
etc.

Example
Twitter: always, everywhere
Twitter is a leader of
insertion ins one’s flow,
thanks to a wide array of
channels to use it: web, e-
mail, instant messaging,
sms.
Anything not offered by
Twitter directly is created by
outsiders through the API.

111.

Doubts? Questions? Comments?
flickr • jay_que

Gianandrea Giacoma
ibridazioni.com
gianandrea.giacoma@gmail.com
Davide Casali
intenseminimalism.com
folletto@gmail.com
Better Software
Florence, 6-7th of may, 2009
bettersoftware.it
flickr • dharmesh84