Twitter announced that they are currently developing a groups feature called Communities.
My initial reaction was... Abort! (Cries in UX). Then I realized I can enrich the Communities platform by delving deep into Twitter’s business brand vision and attending Twitter’s Analyst Day.
On Investor Analyst Day 2021, Twitter announced their plans to double growth velocity with goals to:
While these are high-level growth strategies, they give insight about the team’s priorities.
Group subscriptions provide a direct creator-to-consumer value in a group setting which enriches value consumption.
Subscriptions allow users to learn directly from subject matter experts. Even more, there’s an added benefit of having sense of belonging in a group and learning with others who share the same interest.
Girl Scouts knew the value of merit badges. Awards can seed discussion and incentivize quality contribution. Contributor awards can promote content creation from any participant -- not just from moderators or the 1% active content creators in social media.
Awards can also gamify an experience or provide users an easy, alternate way to interact with others.
Social tokens can gamify social interactions while allowing in-app transactions within Twitter’s ecosystem.
Twitter Coins can eventually be cashed out, donated or and potentially used for ad transactions in Twitter - opening up doors to more ways users can engage with others.
Admittedly, I was a late adopter of Twitter. But it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the active community of designers and stock HODLers. But as much as I enjoyed keeping up with witty pro-Twitter users, I felt like a spectator more than a participant.
Whenever I posted a tweet, it was lost to the feed abyss unheard and unseen - I knew there had to be a way to achieve a sense of belonging on Twitter...
The initial challenge for this project scope was to add a feature for an existing product that had an unmet user need. Because I was a Twitter user myself, I had to resist being solution-focused so I can validate unknowns and assumptions first.
To avoid skipping a step, I began by defining project goals, constraints, scope, and timeline. Then I created a research plan and kicked off a goal-directed process by reviewing Twitter’s brand vision and keeping it user-centric by learning in depth about Twitter users.
My framework follows a user-centered approach so the first step is to understand Twitter’s userbase, their needs, how they use the platform, and the life context within which they use it.
I created a participant criteria based on market research insights and recruited 5 Twitter users who use other social platforms so there’s a reference point for comparison. I wanted to learn about their goals, needs, pain points, and why they use Twitter over other platforms and vice versa.
Most of the interview participants have supported content one way or another whether it’s sending a cup of coffee, paying for a subscription, sending a one-time support or a gift. Since Twitter was taking an interest in audience-funded models (AFM), this was an insight worth exploring further to align user needs with business goals.
Before we get excited, I needed to validate that users are in fact supporting other users. Given my ticking timeframe, I conducted a survey to gain quantitative understanding.
There’s one more thing I need to check. Let’s see some deep user frustrations enough to warrant a review on the App store.
I know I’m going to take these with a grain of salt (some reviews are wild and extreme) but I need to see if any pain points are prevalent enough to explore further. If anything, we can have fun reading some very passionate reviews.
Ok so we gathered data from different angles but what does it allll mean? I created an empathy map to discover recurring patterns that potentially highlight unmet user needs.
I created Dwight, a user archetype, to represent my research insights. Although a persona cannot replace usability testing, I can measure my design choices tentatively against my persona.
I reconstructed user needs into How Might We questions that frame the problems from the user’s perspective and life context.
One of my favorite parts - divergent brainstorming to think of solutions without limitation followed by a convergent thinking exercise to scope it down.
I also ask opposite questions for warm up like - How might we stop Dwight from engaging in Communities?
I narrow down solutions by aligning with business goals, technical feasability, and constraints. Sometimes, business and user goals can appear conflicting. While Twitter wants to double ad revenue, users want to eliminate ads - this requires some outside-of-the box solutions to make ends meet.
Since Twitter Communities is not yet released, I checked my knowledge gaps and assumptions by studying online groups and existing audience-funded models (AFM) from Youtube to Facebook to Buy Me Coffee to OnlyFans. I discovered that various AFMs are gaining acceptance and traction in social media.
See full comp analysis on
Notion
When I brainstormed, I considered the core user stories, tasks, and accessibility. Now that the foundation is set for this sprint, I prioritized selected features on a roadmap to keep myself aligned with the project scope and timeline.
One of my project challenges is to preserve core flows or risk disorienting loyal Twitter users. I added Communities in the home screen’s hamburger slideout menu since it’s the main navigation touch point on mobile, but I considered native notifications and in-app toasts as possible entry points as well.
A task flow is linear and shows a happy path but it doesn’t consider other uses cases. I created a user flow to assess how decison points might send a user down a different path.
Working within an established platform like Twitter, I have to consider possible development resources and leverage components without causing users to feel lost if screens look too similar.
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Rolling out a new feature, we have to consider both novice and proficient users. To onboard new users, the “Welcome to Communities” header provides helper text followed by suggestions. To assist proficient users, filter/sort controls and a search bar (in next screen) help them discover groups.
I need to consider development resources but if screens look too similar, users might feel disoriented. To achieve a balance, I recreated product cards inspired from Lists/Topics that are similar enough to reproduce from the component’s library but different enough to recognize by users.
Profile product cards and List product cards have “Follow” buttons. I initially designed Community cards with a “Subscribe” button but realized that in this use case, users typically need more data before joining - Instead I added elements that can help users make the decision to coin. According to market research, users look at member count, value proposition, and social proof like - Has my friend joined?
Twitter already uses empty states as learning moments that cue beginners into next steps with actionable links. By following this pattern, we avoid extra clicks into “tutorial” screens and allows for easy scanning of information.
One of the project challenges is to design with Twitter’s existing patterns without access to their components library. So I did what every sane designer would do... screenshot Twitter screens, resize for device, and manually copy elements so I can follow patterns. Below are some of the components I used for this project.
Some of the ways I considered accessibility is to improve target sizes, reducing columns and increasing sheet height for ease of use specifically for the Awards screen which had crowding targets.
The goal was to place designs in the hands of users as early as possible and figure out if my solutions are usable in the context of user needs. Also, I wanted to see the reaction of Twitter users to a new groups feature. I observed 5 participants during a “read aloud” moderated usability test and grouped similar observations to extract patterns.
For a first-time user clicking into the Communities home screen, users felt the feature wasn’t defined well enough. I created an onboarding sheet to provide an overview. Using progressive disclosure, I added a “Learn More” button so they can understand the value of the feature.
So there’s a consistent pattern of users needing more information... Good insight! I added more guiding text to help users understand the currency system. I also added a coin balance section for efficient users and subscription lengths to help define their value.
I initially designed a celebratory gif when users sent a gift to another user - a gamified effect consistent with other platforms. However, it wasn’t consistent with Twitter’s system. I redesigned a toast feedback instead. I also recycled hashtags for subgroup discovery within Communities just as users would discover topics.
See prototype on Figma
On March 26, 2021, Twitter user @janemwong leaked screens of Twitter working on a Community feature.
Happy to report that both Twitter and my designs ensured everyone can still benefit from the Community without joining - which goes back to Twitter’s mission for public and accessible conversations. A group subscriptions can however allow for more participation and up-to-date information.
Both designs show how many members have joined and who the creator was. In my designs, I added the contributor awards to show that others have been provided value.
While it’s nerve-wrecking to design for a space that’s yet to be released, I learned to operate under limited data and to be resourceful in finding answers. I learned about the importance of recycling design patterns and seamless integration so the user has to learn as little as possible while gaining benefits from the new features.
In the future, I would love to work on design localization considering that Twitter has a large user base in Japan, India, and UK. It’s important to consider how features might be designed in the context of cultural mental models especially when gifting and currencies are involved.
