Interventions, Probes & Prototypes

PART II

Megan Zurcher | Thesis Studio | 10.07.2014

Facebook Help

I first signed up for Facebook using my CCA email address so I could see how much instruction is given to a new user. I found very little instruction other than a prompt of how to find friends and enter profile information.I thought of specific tasks any user might want to do, but not know how, and found that the help option is buried and only gives instructions as a list rather than showing how it is done.

The Facebook Assistant

An opt-in help feature in the form of a little character. He will give users a list of common tasks they might want to perform and then walk them through those tasks.

Current homepage view

Homepage view with Jimmy

Homepage view after Jimmy’s help is accepted

View of Jimmy’s task guidance

Questions1. What do you think about this feature?2. Does this feature address any of the frustrations you currently have with

Facebook’s usability? Please Explain.

3. What frustrations are not addressed?

4. Would you use this feature?5. Optional: If you have any ideas, what might you do to make Facebook

easier to use?

Answers…

Answers…

“ I love him!”

Answers…

“Yes! My biggest frustration is adding photos.”

Answers…

“It is hard to figure out how to hide weird FB friends.”

Answers…

“I would absolutely use it!”

Answers…

“I would definitely use that feature.”

Answers…

“The feature of being able to click and add photos with one step would be an improvement.”

Answers…

“Adding photos is always a pain for me.”

Answers…

“I had to call my son to find out how to delete a friend, which ended up being easy when I was led to a menu,

which I couldn’t find on my own.”

Abstract

My thesis is about exploring ways in which to help digitally active older adults better understand and use digital communication. Because older adults are more likely to own a tablet over a smartphone, I am focusing my exploration to the tablet. In doing so, I hope to develop a method of helping this group adopt some of the attitudes and behaviors of digital natives so that they are comfortable using current services and more adept at exploring new services.Although my Facebook assistant addresses some of the issues I’m looking at, it does not help this group to adopt new attitudes or behaviors.

Next Step

Create another intervention/probe/prototype that specifically addresses the idea of developing a method for my group to start adopting some of the behaviors and attitudes toward technology that younger adults have.

Research about whether this is even possible. Can you teach an old dog new tricks?What can my group offer digital natives? Some of their current behaviors may be for very good reasons and is there something the “digital natives” can learn from them?