Motivational Design

Mo.De.

Motivational Design

In summary,

what are social networks?

They are networks of

people.

Network: complex

systems.

People: psychological

and social dynamics.

We need to think dierently

about social networks.

Technology enables usage

but that's not enough: the

dynamics interplay on the

interfaces, which are

considered social artefacts

in addition to being

cognitive.

Why do we need

motivations in design?

It’s because if we consider

systemic factors as

constraints and

opportunities, the

motivations are what fuel

social networks and make

them running, growing

and living entities.

The four pillars of

Motivational Design:

1. Functional Needs

2. Social Usability

3. Relational Motivations

4. Circadian Activity Flow

1.

Opening a channel isn’t enough

to make people participate.

flickr • 11164872@N04

The Functional Needs:

Needs and requirements of

the person and/or group

that are satisfied explicitly

by the system.

The Motivation:

Dynamic factor of animal

and human behavior that

activates and directs toward

an objective.

The Relational Motivations:

1. Competition

2. Excellence

3. Curiosity

4. Affection

The Relational Motivations:

competition.

The need to impose oneself

and/or his/hers beliefs.

The search for a

confrontation.

The accumulation of

aggressiveness.

Anger - Aggressivity

system

Example

Digg: no more charts

Digg was forced to remove

the “Top Diggers” chart.

The reason? Top diggers

were accused of

manipulating results to be

"at the top" and Digg

perceived this as ruining

the quality of the service.

http://blog.digg.com/?p=60

The Relational Motivations:

excellence.

The need to confirm one's

skills and quality self-worth.

The need for approval and

increase one's self-esteem.

Narcissism - Self

Example

Digg: the voting system

Digg’s voting design is very

simple and fast: one click

and you decide if the

content is good.

Note:...