margelacool

This is not a goodbye but a see you later

1. Why are social media help centers shit?

For my pilot survey on shadow banning notifications,  I have done a deep dive into TikTok and Instagram help centers. My goal was to have a better grasp of the “Recommendation eligibility” notification on Instagram, and the “For You feed eligibility” notification on TikTok.

Let me tell you, I got lost. I am eternally grateful for r/Instagam and r/Tiktokhelp subreddits, without them I would be a lost sheep (although there are also some weird gems).

The help center user experience and the feed user experience are two different worlds.

one is confusing, whereas the other is frictionless

this is not surprising

These companies have no, or little interest in developing user-friendly help centers.

And the latest Meta AI contestability form is just another great example.

By the way, how the actual f***, am I supposed to answer “Please tell us how this processing impacts you.” I am supposed to write an Ethics essay? I would be down. But who will fill such a form besides people whose job is to reflect and care deeply about these issues? Why does it have to be so bad?

2. Time to be creative

thanks to these “assholedesigns” it’s clear that

  1. those companies’ help centers UI/UX should be scrutinised and informed by independent user research
  2. alternative user rights UI/UX should exist and designed by independent design lab

But which organisations have UI/UX expertise and are into online regulation? Who? Where? How?

Those are the questions have been asking myself for years now.

I am tired of “researching” about it. I want action. I want ACTUAL change.

This is the last “postcard” before this blog goes through an entire revamp.

It’s time for a change.

See you on the other side.

If you are interested (thank you by the way hihi), here is what you should expect:

  • I will delve more into what I learned thanks to the sweet people who participated in the pilot study on shadow banning notifications
  • I will create more user interfaces based on user research
  • I will learn from other people who want to act and create

If you can’t wait, you can read this, or let’s have a chat @margelacool!

Cheers

Credit to Emilie Lor/@_kkhomos for the speedy snail (go check her work now)

Leave a comment