Increasing Vibrancy and Retention of Users in Online Social Networks by Implementing Usability Features

Abstract

Online social networks are multibillion industries that did gain accelerated subscriptions when they initially started since they contributed considerably in information sharing, chatting and generally networking among users. In the recent past there has been clear signs from different research conducted that there is increase in dormancy among the users. This is mainly caused by design features of these sites, lack of content and functionalities to excite these users. Relationships the users of social networks must be initiated based on trust and then carefully cultivated as also organizations identify a sequence of steps to increase a constituent level of involvement and offer a variety of participation options that work to engage different components of their audience. To build a vibrant online community or social network, organizations need more than an individual’s donation or membership application. They need ongoing interaction opportunities that will keep a constituent engaged and developing into a lifelong supporter. In addition to defining a set of interactions, goals must be clearly articulated. Organizations should also ask themselves fundamental questions about the nature of the online social network or community that they are building. This research was conducted to identify the possible ways in which the excitement among the users could be aroused to make online sites vibrant. The user interface design was developed that addressed usability features for motivating users to participate, engage and contribute in online sites. A usability evaluation/test was performed by analyzing web clicks, page visits, feedback forms and web traffic to assess the effectiveness of these features.The study found out that individuals using social networks are well distributed in terms of age and gender with most of them having attained tertiary education. However to attain the goals of this project the analysis brought out some features whose emphasis would help increase user activity and motivation leading to a more vibrant network. These features included: posting of status updates, creating information, finding new friends and awarding user levels depending on the user’s level of activity. This can be identified using user badges or star rating, of importance also is the user interface with easy accessibility to such features as login and registration. The design should also be optimized to allow auto-refreshing pages to enhance user experience.