Discovery is thenew cocaine Going beyond engagement By: Ming Yeow Ng, Yu-shan Fung (Discoverio) Note: Section on “ Flow ” was derived from “ The Science Of Designing Interactions” (SXSW 2008) by Andreas Weigend (people and data), and Ming Yeow Ng (Discoverio)
What is itabout a Web site that might make it literally irresistible ? We are programmed for scarcity and can't dial back even when information is abundant … (addictive sites) all presented new information that somehow needed to be interpreted … this triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good … From Wall Street Journal: Source: WSJ, Why We're Powerless To Resist Grazing On Endless Web Data March 12, 2008
Desire by humansto be a live node in the network We are always… “ Constantly scanning the peripheral, always motivated by the desire not to miss opportunities” “ Desire for other people recognizing us , make us feel important.” “ Services that win are those that help us protect, filter, create meaningful connections ” Linda Stone What drives Discovery? Source: Etech 2006
What is Discovery?Allowing users to: Discover new, valuable information Get Discovered by others Discovering more about themselves
Discovery of InformationNew and Richly interpretable information triggers chemical reactions Facilitate user towards:
Facebook Breakups “Who was she ?” “ Was his girlfriend pretty??” “ You mean she is gay???” Richly Interpretable
Get Discovered byOthers “ Who is paying attention to me?” “ Am I being recognized ?” Helping users to:
MyBlogLog Who ischecking me out? Who is paying attention to me? Twitter Who is following me?
Discover More AboutThemselves “ Who am I to others ?” “ What do I like ?” Allowing users to: Key here: People do not know what they want!
Tickle: What am I ? (400 million personality tests taken) The Old Personality Test The New Personality Test What am I to others ?
Amazon : CollectiveRecommendation What do I like? Stylefeeder: Analyzing attributes
Facilitate the Discovery Cycle for your users Taking all 3 types together:
The Discovery Cyclefor Your App Continuous Learning, Contributing, Recognition Engage and allow contribution of information , leaving of footprints , and giving of feedback 2) System to generate new insights for user 1) Discovery of Content and Users 3) Other Users to discover him Data becomes basis for: Personalized Recommendations Interactions that lead to reciprocity and interactions User learning more about himself Throughout the process: (Keeps him coming back!) Meaningful connections gets established
“ Intermittent VariableReinforcement “ “ One of Skinner's most important discoveries was that behavior that is reinforced intermittently is much more difficult to extinguish than behavior that is reinforced continuously .“ – via Kathy Sierra "You are not sure you are going to get a reward every time or how often you will, so you keep pulling that handle.“ - Patricia Wallace on slot machines Done right, this leads to
Discovery is lessabout predicting precisely right about what the user wants It is more about the entire user flow of discovery , with all the hits and misses In other words... Think window shopping down the mall or walking through an expo hall
Discovering Activity bySocial Graph Based on live updates My good friend The guy with great events The babe I check out Based on collective behavior and attention data
Crowdvine: Updated profiles,comments are on front page Helping users get discovered Clear attention/intention data Crowdvine: want-to-meet, fan
Apache Social Network:Open source projects worked on together Connecting based on commonalities
Randomness that showsthe new and richly interpretable Flickr: Interestingness Etsy: Many ways to shop
Etsy: 10 differentfun ways to discover! (boring categories are at the end) Make it fun to explore
Understanding the elementsof “flow” Feedback, Rewards, Lightweight, Reducing uncertainty How to create the right user experience? Inspired by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
Direct and immediatefeedback Successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed Elements of flow (1)
Feedback can beby system or can be by other users Feedback for users to guide their future behavior Metrics for: Maslow Hierarchy Contribution to others Achievements Popularity Wrong-doings
Cash = powerValue = desirability Points as indicators of power and desirability
Twitter: Validation, andSocial Interaction are powerful rewards by themselves Intrinsically Rewarding
Clear recognition forintended actions Digg: Made popular by… Crowdvine: Updated profiles, comments are on front page
Best Match: Invite10 to see “best matches” Making Rewards Clear and Explicit
Crowdvine: Fan :expression of confidence Want-to-meet: initiate relationship Lightweight, In the moment expressions Yelp: Variety of lightweight interactions directly on reviews
Lijit: Made theprocess entertaining and a little mysterious, with rewards at each step Make user do as little as possible Signup Time 15m -> 2m Conversion 0.1% -> 4% Source: Lijit, SXSW 2008 Automated retrieval of external data, all user needs to do is confirm
Reducing fear anduncertainty Uncertainty, even irrelevant uncertainty kills action Elements of Flow (4)
Twitter: Communicating withlittle fear of incurring cost to recipient Assurance that it is up to recipients’ “mode of receiving”
Crowdvine: Showing socialbehavior right on frontpage Reducing uncertainty on “correct” behavior Latest Comments
Day Trading Elementsof Addiction MMORPG Attractor: Things happening outside your control in the system, yet affecting your status Motivator: You have a stake (self-esteem/emotional/financial) in changes happening to your status Source: "Ariadne - Understanding MMORPG Addiction" Nick Yee
Systematically Introducing DiscoveryInto Your App (uncompleted) Know what data points you need (Individual / Collective / External) Know what mode of discovery (Recommendations / Search / Browsing) Create pathways of discovery (Filtering / Anchoring ) Maximize exploration / exploitation within the pathway (Intention / Attention) Providing reasons/context for discovery ( Context/Persona/Content) Facilitating mediums for connections (Currency / Reputation) Understand what metrics you need (Diversity, Virality, Engagement) Process by Ming Yeow Ng, Yu-shan Fung (Discoverio)
We LOVE Feedback!!!Discovery is a new, unexplored and very exciting area to be innovating in, and we love to hear from anyone who is just as excited about this as us! Touch base with us via any of these mechanisms mingyeow@discoverio.com | @mingyeow (twitter) yushan@discoverio.com | @ambivalence (twitter)