Ethical Considerations for Social Interface Designers
Report completed at University of Canberra, 2019.
Author: Harry Jewell
Author: Harry Jewell
Designers have much to consider when designing social media websites for people. As Individuals, humans can be considered infinitely complex and difficult to define. Designing an ethical web platform for infinitely complex creatures, each with their own identities may seem, at first, an impossible task.
To assist us in this task, we can turn to the book, “Designing social interfaces, principles, patterns and practices for improving the user experience” which seeks to break down and visualize abstract concepts associated with the large scale, online interaction of complex individuals.
If an Individual’s identity is comprised of a stream of consciousness, a sequence of events and experiences, both witnessed by and participated in by that individual, the individual’s participation, actions, behaviours and presentation within this stream of consciousness comprise, at least, a projection of identity which other individuals can interact with. Online, these projections of identity interact with one another in an extended form of human to human communication.
To assist us in this task, we can turn to the book, “Designing social interfaces, principles, patterns and practices for improving the user experience” which seeks to break down and visualize abstract concepts associated with the large scale, online interaction of complex individuals.
If an Individual’s identity is comprised of a stream of consciousness, a sequence of events and experiences, both witnessed by and participated in by that individual, the individual’s participation, actions, behaviours and presentation within this stream of consciousness comprise, at least, a projection of identity which other individuals can interact with. Online, these projections of identity interact with one another in an extended form of human to human communication.
Users should feel embraced by an interface which is easy to use and represents their existing understanding of the common digital language.
So, as designers, where do we begin? Designing social interfaces says, “As a social experience designer, you should begin by defining the type of activity that you want to encourage in your space” (Crumlish and Malone, 2015). Once this is definition is created, the designer should work iteratively to create a user interface for features which support and encourage this activity. Users should feel embraced by an interface which is easy to use and represents their existing understanding of the common digital language.
Users have come to expect common features of social interfaces, a personal profile, personalised dashboards, post creation capabilities, tagging, adding/following, sharing capabilities, availability settings and options galore. As designers, it is our role to provide the means for use of the product, without limiting the user’s ability to get creative with it. “Companies are learning that successful social experiences shouldn’t and can’t be overly controlled” (Crumlish and Malone, 2015).
Engaging generative design as a function of the site will allow designers to “pave the cow paths”. Allowing users to play in a sandbox environment will inevitably bring forth distinguished patterns of behaviour which can be tracked by designers. As users begin to explore and feel more comfortable participating on the site, formalizing these patterns of behaviour by integrating features based on them will drive usage of these features. As Crumlish and Malone put it, “This is the ultimate goal: a virtuous cycle of sharing”.
Roughly half of social media users ages 18 to 24 (51%) say it would be hard to give up social media
It is important to remember that identity is often more fragile and malleable than most people might realise, and through the constant consumption of shared media, our identities begin to become shaped by it. An addictive platform may turn a large profit for its stakeholders, in Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics, Aaron Smith and Monica Anderson write “Roughly half of social media users ages 18 to 24 (51%) say it would be hard to give up social media”, a worrying statistic. As such, the designer’s goal should always be to improve a user’s life, not to have them glued to a screen.
Designing social interfaces touches on the concept of remote presence through social media. An always open connection to a close friend or a high school acquaintance is comforting for some. Crumlish and Malone put it as such, “it helps us to know people who would otherwise be just acquaintances”. This can be viewed as deeply positive, a participating user has the opportunity to interact freely with the people he or she has met in some capacity, according to what interests them, at whichever time of the day, without physically imposing themselves directly in front of the person they choose to interact with. Interaction at a distance can indeed be a good thing. Striking the perfect balance between face to face social interactions and online social interactions allows users to interact when they want, how they want with (almost) whoever they want.
Designers can help to strike the balance for users by designing ethically, these days it is commonplace to drive daily, if not hourly usage of a product through the gamification of online social interaction. This may be good for profit, but it is not necessarily ethical. The same goes for the mass collection of data, commonplace, not necessarily ethical. We don’t often think of interacting with our friends face to face as a “game”, nor do we track their behaviour to the extent of rendering their every thought and action predictable, so why is this so normal or acceptable to us in an online setting?
Designers can help to strike the balance for users by designing ethically
Designers can help to strike the balance for users by designing ethically, these days it is commonplace to drive daily, if not hourly usage of a product through the gamification of online social interaction. This may be good for profit, but it is not necessarily ethical. The same goes for the mass collection of data, commonplace, not necessarily ethical. We don’t often think of interacting with our friends face to face as a “game”, nor do we track their behaviour to the extent of rendering their every thought and action predictable, so why is this so normal or acceptable to us in an online setting?
One possible answer is put forth by Crumlish and Malone, “Users will give what they believe is necessary in exchange for a good experience”. They also write “Prize your users’ attention as the extremely scarce resource that it is”, to design ethically, we must strive to take only what is needed to improve the product and treat our users with the respect they deserve.
We can do this by providing users with adequate privacy settings, by allowing them to share as they see fit, and by just downright not spying on them.
We can do this by providing users with adequate privacy settings, by allowing them to share as they see fit, and by just downright not spying on them.
As it stands, we have many different social networking sites available to us in the modern day, enough that we have the option to choose which ones we use and the freedom to choose how often we use them. We have witnessed the birth of a new technology and are still coming to see that, like most new technologies, they are enticing but not always healthy for us. Every user experience designer should consider the patterns, principles and practices put forth in social interface design, which lays out the groundwork for us to design more ethically in the future.
References
Crumlish, C. and Malone, E. (2015). Designing social interfaces. Beijing: O'Reilly.
Jewell, H. (2019) Google trends, Screen Capture. Retrieved from https://trends.google.com/trends
Smith, A. and Anderson, M. (2019). Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics. [online] Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Available at: https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/ [Accessed 29 Aug. 2019].
Crumlish, C. and Malone, E. (2015). Designing social interfaces. Beijing: O'Reilly.
Jewell, H. (2019) Google trends, Screen Capture. Retrieved from https://trends.google.com/trends
Smith, A. and Anderson, M. (2019). Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and Statistics. [online] Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Available at: https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/ [Accessed 29 Aug. 2019].
