Today Happy Packages team members Ben and Tom (me) tried to test out the new idea for sharing location based content.

You can read the previous post, but a quick summary of the idea is people leaving their thoughts on venues/art/places of interest around town, and those being available for others to see in an Amazon style "if-you-like-this-you-might-like-this" sort of way, to suggest places to go.

We also wanted more generally to continue the ongoing challenge of understanding what people wanted to do with their phones when it comes to the possibilities of such applications.

With help from studio superstar Victoria we put on a focus group which involved people from Watershed, Bristol City Council, and fellow residents.

After securing the regulation amount of flipcharts and biscuits we started off discussing questions like:

  • What people did with their phones
  • What they didn't do and why.
  • What would they like a location aware sharing application to do?
  • What would be a huge turn-off for such an application?


After getting the chat going with these hor d'oeuvres Ben revealed our idea to the group to get a response. There was a great mix of positive and negative reactions which all have to be digested. You can see the full conclusions on this site, very soon! But here are some random things i wrote down in my notepad:

  • The technology must be opt-in, take it or leave it.
  • Venue suggestion would be more useful if in a new city, rather than in your own, where you know where you like already.
  • Suggestions for things to do must be only suggestions. No one wants an app to tell them what to do. The tone of the app is important in this way.
  • People don't really seem to care what people they don't know think about venues, they only care what their friends think. This contrasts to objects such as books and gadgets where people like the Amazon reviews from strangers.
  • An app which linked into their existing social network (or perhaps merged several) would be of more interest.
  • When it comes to venues, mystery numerical ratings weren't very useful, subjective opinion is ok as long as it is based on objective things (e.g the music, the food)
  • People do enjoy discovering things for themselves! (And also then keeping it to themselves, or their circle of friends)
  • What is the benefit for the rater? Could marr an experience. Mustn't distract too much.
  • People would feel more inclined to rate if they felt it was helping the artist/dj/barman etc...
  • The opinions of strangers could be more trusted if there was a shared trait e.g. vegetarians sharing where good places to eat are. Tapping in to communities could be of more interest.
  • People could be up for using an app which was a backlash against giant chains/franchise venues.
  • Which is more useful, thoughts on the place, or thoughts on how the rater feels at the place? The response is not definitive for the place and can change depending on a myriad of external factors. These could be recorded without the user input (e.g time of day, weather, season etc..)


A Big thanks to all who took part in the session and we hope to do you proud by incorporating you thoughts into our prototype!

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Tom Dowding