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Curated voice room to meet and hangout with people near you!
Project Overview
Project Overview
How might we support intentional interactions between geographically-close communities that would be otherwise separated during & post-pandemic?
DISCONNECT. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a huge disconnect between students living nearby. The opportunities to meet a neighbor have decreased and any face-to-face interaction are made unlikely. Although staying at home is satisfactory to some people, many have expressed their desire to meet their neighbors and other students while quarantined.
CONNECT. Friendsly is a location-based app that allows you to join voice rooms of people around you, so you can talk to neighbors who you could potentially meet in person.
MATCH. The distinguishing feature of your app is that it picks up on cues from your conversations and gives you a report of the people and rooms you are most compatible with, so that in the future you can join more rooms like this or even meet neighbors in real life.
Our Research
Our Research
24/32 participants surveyed said they wished they interacted more with their neighbors, though only 8 actually did.
Fig. 1 Participants express a desire to connect with students nearby but no ways to meet each other.
Survey Methods
Survey Methods
We collected a total of 32 responses from UC San Diego students.
The main goals of the survey were to assess:
How often did students meet neighbors before & after the online transition .
If there were significant changes in interest & frequency to connect with neighbors.
How existing room platforms like Zoom supported interaction.
Fig. 2. We explored which online interactions student enjoyed
Interview Methods
Interview Methods
We conducted 3 interviews with students currently living on campus.
The goal of our first round of interviews was to test our initial concept - are students interested in incorporating social features on Zoom? (more info on our initial prototype below)
Findings
Findings
Students showed a strong willingness to meet neighbors if they established contact in advance on other platforms.
Increased use of dating apps to meet people nearby
Students wanted virtual rooms with facilitated themes to alleviate awkwardness.
Zoom is not seen with potential to become a casual social platform.
84% would be interested in arranging in-person meetups with friends they met online during the pandemic
IDENTIFIED DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES
Geo-Specific rooms → Increase in-person meetups
Curated rooms → Provide motive
Voice rooms → Alleviate Awkwardness
Our Design
Our Design
Prototype Sketches (1st Iteration)
Prototype Sketches (1st Iteration)
We first created sketches and mock-ups to determine what our prototype would look like, and what would be its core functionalities.
Our early sketches lived inside Zoom.
Why Zoom → Students were already familiar with the platform and used it regularly. Our initial design hoped to incorporate a "Nearby" feature to the Zoom dashboard which would show all nearby public meetings people could join.
"I associate classes with Zoom which turns me off from interacting socially with people on it" - P.
What we learned from interviews → Though there was a strong desire for students to connect with their nearby neighbors, interviewees weren't confident that Zoom was the platform they'd go to for meeting people, as the app was now linked with work & burnout.
We referred back to our interview and survey findings and iterated on our initial concept - What would our platform look like outside Zoom?
Prototype Sketches (2nd Iteration)
Prototype Sketches (2nd Iteration)
Our second iteration of sketches explored different ways we could visualize the virtual rooms in real-life locations. We drew inspiration from apps who already effectively incorporate location into their social features, like Snapchat and Airbnb. We also tried to stay mindful of privacy and safety by providing general locations as opposed to more specific ones.
We also explored switching from audio-video rooms to audio-only rooms. This decision was inspired by our research, where participants claimed the video style reminded them of Zoom, which in turn reminded them of less casual environments. Instead, we decided to explore what audio rooms would look like, so we could test this in our upcoming prototype evaluation.
Audio rooms with built-in icebreaker screens
Audio rooms with built-in icebreaker screens
"[I'd wish] having rooms designated for specific things, knowing what's available' - S.
Map-view to see what's happening nearby
Map-view to see what's happening nearby
"Right now [I'd wish] literally meeting anyone at UCSD through a random generator" - S.
SOCIAL FEEDBACK
How do you begin to meet new people when you don't know anyone yet?
Feedback - Adding more Functionalities
Feedback - Adding more Functionalities
Though Friendsly showed you the activities going on nearby, how did the connection start? What would motivate you to join rooms with strangers, or keep you coming back to more rooms?
"I wish there was a personality sorter so it would suggest other people into the same things as me / with a compatible personality and if there was an ice breaker." R.
Friendsly could be designed as your virtual convener. By picking up on social cues, conversations, and who you talked with the most, Friendsly can give you an assessment of your discussions, and connect you with similar people.
Credits. Social Chemistry by Dr. Marissa King
What does this report card look like?
Individual assessment → Friendsly assesses the fruitfulness of your conversations, giving you a report card on how good you were at socializing (i.e. percentage of time you spoke vs how people reacted, are people building up constructively on what you said), and a summary of who you talked with the most in the room.
Group assessment → Friendsly also examines the room as a whole. This would be assess overall group cohesion and trends activity; was there long pauses between exchanges, were there people dominating the room, who was the less active, and how likely were people to get along in similar groups?
We tested the use of badges as a function of group assessment during our eval.
Why is this different to a dating app?
Unlike dating apps, users get to experience first-hand what a live interaction feels like with someone. Whether the motive is meeting new friends or a partner, Friendsly doesn't just match you with people based on interests you input. Instead, Friendsly is a one-of-a-kind app that retroactively assesses your conversation with someone, so that you can reflect on whether there is compatibility.
Friendsly is your virtual convener, it assesses the fruitfulness of your conversations, giving you a report on your socialization trends, and people you might get along with.
Prototype Evaluation & Iteration
Prototype Evaluation & Iteration
Using piggy-back prototyping, we were able to test our prototype with a virtual class of 18 students. From this evaluation, we had specific questions we needed answered in order to further develop our prototype:
How do people respond to an audio-only environment?
Are people even interested in hearing feedback from their social performance?
What would the report card look like, what would people like to see?
How does social assessment play a role in different virtual scenarios?
How effective would Friendsly be at encouraging in-person meetings after online conversations?
In-class Prototype Plan
In-class Prototype Plan
In order to simulate our app idea, we utilized Google Forms, Google Slides, Google Spreadsheet, and Zoom. To further elaborate:
To simulate choosing a community room nearby → Google forms We assigned students to one out of three virtual rooms we had prepared before hands. By ranking their preferences on this form, students simulated choosing a room of their interest.
To simulate different kinds of virtual interactions → Google slides, Skribbl.io, Figma: in order to choose activities for prototyping, we referred back to our initial survey, where participants ranked the social interactions they enjoyed most online. For this reason we chose meeting new people, playing online games, and working collaboratively
#1 Meeting New People
#1 Meeting New People
To simulate conversations that encourage vulnerability and discussion, we used icebreaker questions from werenotreallystranger.online and manually increased the level of difficulty every 5 minutes for 3 rounds.
#2 Online Games
#2 Online Games
To simulate activities that participants would partake in, we used skribbl.io as a resource to leverage. This game challenges players to rise to the top of the leaderboard by seeing who can guess correctly the most frequently.
#3 Working Collaboratively
#3 Working Collaboratively
To simulate the experience of a study/business room, we had participants collaborate on Figma to redesign the education management platform, Canvas. This fast-paced activity was structured in three 5-minute long steps: brainstorming, identifying opportunities, and lo-fi screens.
To simulate an audio-only room → We sent participants into 3 Zoom breakout rooms and asked them to unmute themselves throughout the session while keeping their cameras off
Prototype of what the user assessment report looked like for testing
To simulate the Friendsly algorithm that would give User assessment reports and matching recommendations → Google spreadsheets
We created a spreadsheet with separate tabs, each tab would be used by one facilitator within their activity room.
Facilitator were to count each participants verbal contribution and keep track of who they interacted the most with by tallying their participations.
As each room activity wrapped up, our timekeeper would let facilitators know they had 2 minutes to finalize each participant's report.
Once we were back in the main room, all participants were given access to their reports, which included a person they matched with and an individual assessment of how they related with the overall group.
Finally, we sent out feedback surveys using Google Forms at the end of our session in order to get each user's individual feedback for future prototype iterations.
Overall Prototype Takeaways
Overall Prototype Takeaways
What went well: All three rooms received great amounts of participation. People eased into the experience thanks to a 3 minute icebreaker we repeated across all rooms. Tallying participations went smoothly and reports were ready by the time participants were back in the main room. More serious activities like collaborative design also received quality engagement.
What could be improved: From our three experiences, playing games online did not receive as much interaction as working collaboratively or meeting new people. This might be an inherent result of what drives people to play games online, so in the future we have to consider how to design measurable social environments for online gaming.
Evaluation Feedback
Evaluation Feedback
We had some time after testing to discuss improvements and send out an evaluation form. We will analyze the results of our prototype evaluation based on the set of goals we had included above:
How do people respond to an audio-only environment?
Are people even interested in hearing feedback from their social performance?
What would the report card look like, what would people like to see?
How does social assessment play a role in different virtual scenarios?
How effective would Friendsly be at encouraging in-person meetings after online conversations?
We will analyze the results of our prototype evaluation based on the set of questions we had included above
How do people respond to an audio-only environment?
"I liked it, I'm not a particularly vocal person, but I didn't feel pressured to participate at all times"
"I liked it, I'm not a particularly vocal person, but I didn't feel pressured to participate at all times"
"The audio only environment was more comfortable and felt more like a natural conversation without making me hyper-aware of how I looked on video."
"The audio only environment was more comfortable and felt more like a natural conversation without making me hyper-aware of how I looked on video."
"I like it since its easier to participate and less stressful"
"I like it since its easier to participate and less stressful"
Participants responded positively at the initial request to keep their cameras off, in fact, some students even claimed to feel relieved. Furthermore, 100% participants in room 1&3 kept their mic's unmuted throughout the experience. In comparison with room #2, where participants weren't asked to keep themselves unmuted, conversation in room 1&3 flew more naturally and enabled people to chime in casually into conversations.
2. Are people even interested in hearing feedback about their social performance?
Overall, participants recorded being satisfied with the assessments provided to them at the end of their activities.
A 71.4% of all participants reported the badges assigned accurately assessed their performance during the activity. 57% of all participants also said this was a consistent assessment of most of their online interactions.
Participants reacted very positively to receiving feedback and matching results. Some raised important design questions questions on how we would handle delivering less satisfying feedback.
"I liked it alot! I think its easier to have its kind of like a friend matchmaking experience like bumble bff but a little different?"
"I liked it alot! I think its easier to have its kind of like a friend matchmaking experience like bumble bff but a little different?"
"I think the compatibility report is an interesting feature, wonder how do people contact each other/connect again after receiving the report"
"I think the compatibility report is an interesting feature, wonder how do people contact each other/connect again after receiving the report"
3. What would the report card look like, what would people like to see?
Interestingly enough, the room that expressed the least amount of interest in staying connected with their matches was the only room where we assigned two matches per person.
This might mean people are more likely to stay connected when match with a singular person.
"It would be nice if on top of being given a report of your compatibility with people in your group and individual members, you could also receive recommendations on what groups to join." -L
"It would be nice if on top of being given a report of your compatibility with people in your group and individual members, you could also receive recommendations on what groups to join." -L
4. How does social assessment play a role in different virtual scenarios?
From our three experiences, playing games online did not receive as much interaction as working collaboratively or meeting new people.
This might be an inherent reason which drives people to play games online, so in the future we have to consider how to design measurable social environments for online gaming - or if online gaming is even a scenario our app should be designed for.
Furthermore, many participants commented on the utility of this app for group projects, as it would record participation.
"I would use this. Especially at social events."
"I would use this. Especially at social events."
"I liked the ice breaker questions but the skribblio was kinda awk because we weren’t talking."
"I liked the ice breaker questions but the skribblio was kinda awk because we weren’t talking."
"I feel like it'd be good for group projects."
"I feel like it'd be good for group projects."
5. How effective would Friendsly be at encouraging in-person meetings after online conversations?
Though many of the participants didn't know each other previous to this activity, 12/14 participants expressed interest in wanting to stay connected with the person they were matched with.
"I would love it!!!! It would work depending on the situation and filtering out some people"
"I would love it!!!! It would work depending on the situation and filtering out some people"
"I think it's a good idea when moving into a new environment (especially a school) since other people are also looking to make friends"
"I think it's a good idea when moving into a new environment (especially a school) since other people are also looking to make friends"
"I think that having questions/activities are a great way to facilitate conversation since meeting new people is always a little awkward without something to do"
"I think that having questions/activities are a great way to facilitate conversation since meeting new people is always a little awkward without something to do"
What we learned from our interactive prototype
What we learned from our interactive prototype
Bonding
Bonding
About 85% participants said they are somewhat to very interested in connecting with their suggested friend.
Fun
Fun
About 73% participants thought the experience was fun and interesting.
Audio based
Audio based
About 91% of participants liked the audio only environment.
Engagement
Engagement
About 81% of participants are interested in further engaging with the app.
Final Product Design
Final Product Design
We went through several iterations before we arrived at Friendsly's final prototype
Prototype Iteration
Prototype Iteration
Learning from suggestions and evaluation procedures, we brought up several key points of iterations:
Keep audio option as the main communication methods.
Optimize the recommendation experience for new friends and earned badges.
Create one-on-one rooms for matches that want to stay connected
Design better experiences for theme activities in rooms, make it easier to join.
Add "for you" feature that recommends rooms in addition to only people.
Other iterations: add reactions, customizable report settings, etc.
High-fidelity Prototype & Highlights
High-fidelity Prototype & Highlights
Combining what we learned from the feedbacks of our interactive prototype and our team design functional iterations, we created our high-fidelity prototype with Figma.
Main Page - Map View
Main Page - Map View
Map view page consists of a map that shows the host locations of different theme rooms, click on the spot and you can preview them.
Main Page - List View
Main Page - List View
This main page lists all the nearby voice chat rooms you can jump in. You can preview the room location, chat themes and members.
Icebreaker Room
Icebreaker Room
The ice-breaker room allows people to chat together in a fun and engaging way. Take turns to answer questions and have fun!
Work & study room
Work & study room
This room type is dedicated to create spaces to work or study together. It can facilitate discussions or just promote productivity. People can also share related links and files.
General chat room
General chat room
Working just like a typical chat room, this voice-only functional chat room can provide communication spaces for nearby students.
Analyze social compatibility
Analyze social compatibility
After the users end a session, Friendsly will analyze their social compatibility. The app will recommend people of the same interests or personality to users. Users can add them into their own network with just a click. Additionally, they will receive reward badges shown in profile, this can reinforce engagement and app can generate related recommendations.
Room Recommendation
Room Recommendation
Apart from recommending individuals, Friendsly can also recommend rooms based on three references: your past participation, your friends and your earned badges, which can greatly expand the social possibilities.
Add Reactions
Add Reactions
Need to find alternative ways to express your feelings? We bring the classical emoji reactions to the chats. Find one to show your attitudes!
Deeper Connections
Deeper Connections
In order to make deeper connections, Friendsly provides the one-on-one audio options for nearby friends.
Next Steps
Next Steps
Our app concept show tremendous potential and sparked much interest from users. This was not just in the "meeting new people" setting, but many students expressed interest in using participation reports in more collaborative scenarios like group projects and school work.
If we had more time, we would've performed more user testing and iterating on the following concepts:
How do provide feedback back to Friendsly that their judgment is correct?
Upvote/downvote features that allow users to rate recommendations offered by Friendsly
How do we design for occasions when given feedback isn't positive?
More user testing should be done in this area - but we considered designing only for positive assessments (i.e. badges are always supportive)
How do we deal with assessments that might be too intrusive?
Include customizable setting features to manually edit what you want and do not want to see in your reports.
How do we encourage more conversation when there is none?
Addition of bot that picks up on silences or keeps count of people who speak more or less in the room and interact with them.
Contributions
Contributions
Aung Yang - User interview + appendix + some interview insight + facilitator for prototype + team roles writeup and social setting writeup
Dale Alfafara - Survey methodology + added key figures from surveys with captions + facilitator for prototype + reflection writeup + conclusions from testing writeup
Nicole Lopez - Key Insights + final pitch deck + final report organization + distributing survey + facilitator for prototype & presenter + literature review + competitor analysis + prototype plan
Huiyan(Morgan) Li - Motivation + some interview methodology + some survey questions + timekeeper for interactive prototype + Figma hi-fi prototype + badge design & creation
Chenghua Wen - Interview insights & part of methodology + part of questions in survey and interview + note taker & presenter + iterations from testing + Figma hi-fi prototype
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