Final project: Communication and social media

With the development and popularity of the internet, the influence of social media is expanding at a high speed in the past few decades. Because of the convenience and efficiency of the instant messages on social media, people, especially the youth, are depending more on social media such as Facebook and Twitter in their daily life. Obviously social media is changing the way people communicate in many aspects.

People are changing the way they know and keep in contact with each other because of the social media

According to a recent research, Facebook users spend 423 minutes Facebooking each month. Now people are spending more time chatting and sharing information on social media. The benefit of social media such as Facebook is that people can know someone more easily . For example, they can search and discover people sharing same interest by typing key words in the search bar and then add them as friend on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter. Also people may find some mutual friends without the introduction by the friends they already know, and they can learn something about those people by browsing their personal pages.

Another benefit of social media is that it helps people keep in touch with others. Sometimes when people can’t meet face to face because of the far distance and the busy schedule, they can still know what’s going on with their friends by reading the statuses they post. Social media is also a good tool for people to remember lots of names in their social circle although some of them only meet once before.

However, depending too much on the social network may have negative effect on people’s communication skills

Face to face communication is based on many important factors. People express themselves not only by what they say, but also by nonverbal languages such as their body gestures, intonations and facial expression. All of these factors compose a full person. However, when people rely too much on social media, they can only know about others by reading what they are typing. People may have some problems understanding what others mean when chatting online because they can’t see that person and they have to guess what he/she is really thinking about.

Also when people communicate face to face, they need highly concentrate in the conversation and quickly make responses. But when sending messages on the internet, people may have more time to think about what to say for response, so that they can do anything they want during the chat. It was reported that some teenagers who got used to chatting online had difficulty in communicating with others in daily life because they couldn’t respond quickly to the ideas while they talked to others.

This is the opinion of an expert on the issue of social media and communication:

"person on street" Audioboo about social media and communication

 The opinion of my roommate about the difference between communicating face to face and communicating by social media.

listen to ‘"person on street" Audioboo about my topic’ on Audioboo

Why did I choos my final project topic

The preference of having an iPad and blending classes with technology

listen to ‘Personal preference on iPad’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Technology in class meetings’ on Audioboo

The usability of iPad apps and websites

About the research

The research is about the usability of iPad apps and websites. According to the report, the main purpose of the research was to access the state of iPad application design and understand where the user interaction pain points are. This is the second study based on the test a year ago. For the new study, the researchers tested 16 users with at least two months’ experience using their iPads, 14 of them were between 21-50 years old and two of them were older than 50.  They systematically tested 26 iPad apps and 6 websites. 

Two different methods are used during the research

The first one was usability testing. Researchers invited the users to do several tasks both using iPad apps and the websites, and then they conducted short interview related to the iPad using habits and then asked them to show some apps they already installed. I think the usability testing was the main part of the research because researchers got important data such as their using habits and from the users, and their feedbacks were reliable sources which helped researchers find the potential problems in the apps designs. The second one was expert reviews, which is the observations and recommendations from conducting the researchers’ own review of additional interfaces. This gave the researchers more direct views and meanwhile increases the credibility of the report.

The problem of the target size

In the report, different kinds of problems were found when users were using the iPad, and the issue drew my attention most was the target size in the section of touch screen and affordances. I believe this is one of the most common problems that almost everyone ever used an iPad may have confronted before. I also had such experience as the “fat finger” problem when I use some of the iPad apps. For instance, when I got an iPad last year I was first excited to discover the “piano” app in the app store so I downloaded it immediately. But after I started the app and tried to play a piano music by tapping the keys on the iPad screen, I found they were too small for me to tap them correctly. The sounds were easy to be mixed when I touched the edge of the keys. Even though the size of the keys could be changed, the scrolling button was also too small. So the target size is really an important factor of iPad apps which ensures the users to hit the desired targets efficiently and accurately.

The report also showed an example from USA Today, which contains several tiny targets

During the research, the participants, who were familiar with the app, tried very hard to press the small arrows in order to get to the next article while they ignored the alternative option, which was swiping the page. They found several problems of the design of the app page: the “home” button was too small and was easy to miss, and the arrow button was also too tiny for users to move to the next article, besides there was no clue about what the next article was about near the arrow, which maybe confuse the readers.  These problems may decrease the efficiency of the users so they have to do more works while reading the news. I believe that a good app have to bring convenience to the users and make their life simpler, thus explicit targets are crucial to a successful app. 

The examples in the reports show the importance of user-friendly targets

The Fitts’ Law from Human-Computer interaction (HCI) says that the time to reach the target is longer if the target is smaller. It is essential for app designers and publishers to know what kind of the target is most user-friendly. Sometime just making the app pages look pretty is not enough. The home screen of NASA app showed in the report, which was the beautiful image of the solar system, was really fascinating at the first glance. However it also had the problem of too tiny targets because some of the celestial bodies that were designed as the targets, such as Pluto, were too small to be tapped by human fingers. Users won’t be satisfied if the beautiful targets can’t be pressed easily. A good design of app targets will safe much of the users’ time and work. According to the report, research has shown that the best target size for widgets is 1cm x 1cm for touch devices, which means that many targets in the apps have to be replaced by more reasonable ones. 

Companies should do more researches about the touch screen and affordance before they design apps for their brands

There are many other factors that would strongly influence the quality of an app, such as crowing targets, padding, affordances, as well as input and registration. The companies should aware that compared to the websites, their apps have to bring more convenience to the customers. If they can solve the problems such as the complicated registration and the size of the targets, they will make more successful apps for their brands and attract more users. So how to improve the apps is always an important question for the companies to think about.

The trend of participation gap

Nowadays people are putting more emphasis on the use of mobile devices. With the development of technology and economy, various kinds of mobile devices are giving us a lot more opportunity to communicate with others as well as access the internet. In the field of education, most of the universities and colleges have introduced the high tech devices, such as iPads, into the lectures. However, not everyone has the equal ability to access the mobile devices. The different level of the economic capability and the education background has led to the differentiation and stratification of the way people use mobile devices.

Digital divide or participation gap?

According to the article written in 2007 by Kevin Guidry at Indiana University, digital divide and participation gap are two problems existing among mobile users in America society.

Kevin Guidry states that the digital divide still exists due to the fact that there are still a large number of Americans who can’t afford the computers or have internet access at home. Meanwhile, even people have had access to technology, the different experience with it may lead to the “participant gap” (Jenkins, 2006), which is not just mere access, but differing types of access.

I believe that the “participant gap” can better describe the problem among US mobile users, because in the society where almost everyone can have an access to the mobile devices in the public areas such the school libraries, the phenomenon of digital divide will no longer be a major problem in the near future. Now the issue is not just simply “have” or “not have”, but it comes more complicated to “how people use them”. The different experience of using the internet and the role mobile devices play in their daily life has strong influence to their attitude towards the technology. For example, people who have smart phones check their Facebooks and E-mails more frequently than people who use traditional phones or don't have one at all.

Mobile phone problems won't have much effect on the participation gap

Another article I read is about the mobile phone problems. According to the authors, Jan Lauren Boyles and Lee Rainie, the main problems phone users confront are dropped calls, unwanted sales or marketing calls, unwanted spam or text messages, and the slow download speed. In my opinion, the mobile phone problems won't have direct effect on participation gap because the problems of the mobile phones always exist, and they are just part of the experience while using the mobile devices for people who already have one. People's understanding of the technology won't be changed and their time of accessing the internet won't be signally diminished just because they confront these problems while using their phones. Also it's obvious that mobile phone problems won't affect those who don't have mobile devices.

However, some findings in the survey may predict that problem of participation gaps may be eased in the future.

The surveys in the article of show that the number of times people encounter the mobile phone problems is related to the type of phone they use and the race of the users. According to the graphic and the survey, Hispanic and African-Americans are more likely to have mobile phone problems than Whites, and maybe it’s tied to the fact that African-Americans and Hispanics rely on their cell phones more than the whites. Although there are still many Hispanic and African -Americans who can’t afford cell phones, it seems that they will rely on using cell phones to access the internet and make phone calls more than the white users if they have one.

Since the cell phone companies are launching new products all the time, the price of old smart phones usually reduce after the newest ones come out because of the severe competition won't allow them to keep high prices. And the phone price will continue decreasing in the future because of the maturity of manufacturing,  Once more people, especially those who may depend on mobile devices a lot but can't afford them temporarily, can have their own smart phone, the problem of participation gap may be diminished because the opportunity for people to access the mobile devices will be equal so that they will have similar experience of accessing the internet and using the high tech devices.

To trust or not to trust: that is a question

Have you ever received any e-mails, phone calls or letters from unfamiliar companies that are trying to advertise their products? If so, it’s probably because your personal information has been divulged without any notice. Nowadays the problem of online privacy is discussed by more and more people because the development of social media has made it easier for companies or groups with any purposes to access the personal information of an individual. If we can trust the social network any more has become a controversial issue, and now the government are taking some measures to deal with the problem.

 Recently a “ConsumerPrivacy Bill of Rights” relating to online data has been released by the Obama Administration after Google was found tracking users data via iPhones. A lot of Apps such as Maps require users’ location, which is able to update the information of where they are as long as their phones are connected to WIFI. Also the users can’t avoid the third-parties getting the information of their interests and preferences if they click the “like” buttons on Facebook pages frequently. In order to control the use of consumers’ online data and build the trust between consumers and the businesses, the proposal includes mainly 6 areas of online data management, which are Transparency, Respect for Context, Security, Access and Accuracy, Focused Collection and Accountability. The consumers have the right to decide who can have their privacy data and access their personal information. The companies are also responsible for the security of the privacy data of the users, so that they can be well trusted.

As far as I am concerned, it is understandable that sometimes the companies and websites do need the users’ personal data in order to provide better information and service for them. For example, when the personal information such as the age, gender and color preference are provided to the online shopping website, you will probably find the cloth you want more quickly and easily. However, it will become really annoying if the websites are collecting privacy data for a third-party without informing the users. Once you click the “like” button on the Facebook, it is likely that your e-mail address will be collected by the advertisers and numerous advertising mails, sometimes even inquiry calls, will disrupt you frequently. Also the number of internet frauds is increasing these years because the personal information is easily accessed via Facebook and the online shopping websites. As we can see, how to build trust with the consumers is what the companies need to think about seriously.

Personally, I support the government’s step in on the issue of controlling the users’ data being tracked by websites such as Google. The proposal released recently makes the privacy policies clearer to the public and the privacy information of the users will be more controlled. On the other hand, the websites that have agreed to submit to Do Not Track technology will become more trustworthy among consumers so that more people will browse the website with less worry. So it is both good for the users and the websites.

The “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” has won a lot of supports among netizens, and I believe there will be more measures on protecting the privacy data in the future to make the social network a better and safer place. Even though there are still some problems unsolved because the management of online data is always complicated and can’t become perfect in one day, but hopefully we can look at the bright side and then build more trust with the social network when the laws are gradually completed. Do you think you will feel more secure when browsing the websites in the future? Let the time tell us.