Designing for Connection: Creating a Social App to Combat Loneliness
Solving the challenges of loneliness through product design. By focusing on user research, proximity-based interactions, and safety features, I developed a user-centered solution that encourages real-life connections and enhances social well-being.
Introduction
“Loneliness is a growing epidemic in most developed countries. Young people aged 16 to 24 feel more lonely than any other age group, including people aged 65 and over. Indeed, 73% of Gen-Z report feeling alone sometimes or always. Loneliness can be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.”
— Kian Bakhtiari, Forbes
Despite the prevalence of social media and digital communication tools, young adults continue to struggle with making meaningful connections. I was tasked to conduct research focused on identifying the challenges that users face when trying to build friendships through social media and friend-finding apps.
User Research and Discovery
To understand the pain points better, we conducted interviews with 13 users from our company network.
Some of the questions I created focused more on users previous experiences with making connections. The goal is to understand the process users typically go through and understand the main pain points they go through.
These discussions revealed key issues users face when trying to make connections:
Conversations Fizzle Out:
Users noted that conversations often start off strong but tend to fizzle out before leading to in-person meetings, which are essential for forming deeper connections.
Preference for Real-Time Interaction:
Many users expressed a desire to live in the moment rather than engage in lengthy texting. They found it challenging to transition from online interaction to real-life meetings.
Profile Limitations:
Learning about someone solely through a digital profile is inadequate. Profiles fail to capture the full essence of a person, leading to superficial interactions.
Challenges with Existing Friend-Finding Apps:
Current friend-finding apps like Bumble BFF attempt to address these issues, but they often fall short. Users feel that interactions remain brief, and the topic of meeting up in person rarely comes up organically.
Creating a user persona
To consolidate all this information from my interviews into something actionable, I created a user persona that dives into the face of someone who is experiencing these issues. User personas help shape the problem in a way others can understand, they help put a face to an issue and bring more humanity to the user research I conducted. Below is the user persona I created.
The Solution: Link App
I decided to create an app that is geared towards the pain points discovered earlier. This app aims to facilitate real-life interactions by focusing on proximity and common interests. The app features three main components designed to overcome the barriers users face:Usability testing is the practice of sharing a product with a user for the first time and giving them a list of tasks to test how intuitive and easy it is for the user to use said product.
1. The Grid
The Grid feature allows users to see others nearby, offering an opportunity to initiate conversations and meet in person quickly. By providing a real-time grid of users in the vicinity—be it at a park, bookstore, or event—Link encourages spontaneous, real-world interactions, reducing the reliance on back and forth chit chat online.
2. Events Page
Link includes an events tab where users can browse events happening in their area and see which of their friends are attending. This feature not only provides activities to do but also serves as a natural way to meet people with shared interests. Users can sign up for events directly through the app, facilitating easier group gatherings and social interactions.
3. Filter Me
Safety is a primary concern for users, especially when meeting new people. Link addresses this by offering customizable filters, allowing users to control who can see them based on interests, identity, and location. These filters ensure that users feel secure while using the app and interacting with others, fostering a comfortable and inclusive environment.
Creating User Journeys
To effectively communicate the benefits of the Link App to stakeholders, we developed user journeys illustrating how the app addresses common pain points and helps users form connections more quickly. These visual narratives demonstrate the practical application of the Link App features and the impact they can have on users’ social lives.
Next Steps
Next steps of this current iteration is to share this out with users and conduct usability tests, this will give us more insight as to how users interact with the wire-frames and where we can improve in the future.
