Sunday 12 April 2015

Platform apps – Does value for the user equal value for the platform?


A multitude of online language learning platforms are out there to support the learning experience. Most of them provide mobile apps to interact with the platform, but I argue that not all apps are equally supportive to foster growth of the platform itself.


A language learning platform that I personally use almost daily and want to base my argument on is Memrise. The platform establishes a community by providing individuals the features to create flashcard style courses for foreign language vocabulary and share them with other users who can study and rate them. A core principle and differentiating factor of the platform are the so called "mems" (mnemonics), a visual representation or other kind of hook that helps you remember the word or fact you want to learn. People choose Memrise because they can leverage all the crazy mems in the system created by other users and they can contribute their own created mems to share with the community.
In the following I discuss Memrise as an example to illustrate how the user interface design of a mobile application for a technology enabled digital platform needs to serve two purposes: On the one hand, it needs to provide utility for the user, but on the other hand, equally important it needs to serve the interest of the platform by facilitating especially those interactions that create a hook to keep the user stick to the platform and foster network effects.

The Memrise app is an awesome tool in generating value for the user. It gives free of charge access to all courses and even the option to download them for offline use for learning vocabulary at the bus stop or supermarket queue. The app therefore receives mostly positive reviews and when there are bad reviews they are generally more related to technical issues.
However, in my opinion, the main weakness of the app is that it encourages passivity at the user site. It fosters a consuming attitude and less an attitude of engagement. A successful web platform lives from user engagement and this is especially true for a platform like Memrise that requires users to create content like the online courses and in particular the mems that make this platform stand out. Imagine Facebook without any new postings, but everybody only reading.

In the case of Memrise I would like to highlight two areas that can strengthen the affiliation and engagement with the platform and improve network effects

- Own content creation

- Appreciation of the content by other users

When users start creating own content it gives them a stake in the platform. They have invested time and created value for themselves and the community. In contrast to the Memrise browser version the app is missing any option for users to create mnemonics on the go. This is especially sad when you learn a word on the bus, have a much better idea to remember the word than all existing "mems" but can't contribute it to the community. The browser version provides a very simple but effective "mem" creator that searches a picture on the web and lets you add a short text to it. Adding this feature to the app would certainly increase one of Memrise's largest assets.

It's great to post something on Facebook and see when people are liking your contribution or commenting on it. It's an equally good feeling when contributing a "mem" to the Memrise platform and receiving appreciation for the good idea. Unfortunately this part of showing appreciation for the contribution of others and receiving appreciation for your own content is missing on the app. I think even an easy rating button in the app could be an important tool for creating engagement and a sense of belonging to a community.

Memrise did a great job to address the community and content creation aspect in the browser version, but so far has not been able to deliver the same experience on the mobile platform. Especially with an increasing part of interaction happening mobile this aspect grows in importance. Platform owners should therefore develop an idea of what interactions drive the growth of their platform and bring those interactions to the mobile platform.

I believe not only Memrise struggling with the design challenge of capturing the benefits for users and the platform alike. If you have examples that managed this challenge particularly well or bad, I'm looking forward to hearing from them.


1 comment:

  1. I agree with what you have posted totally. Some apps have a better "built in" community, such as Duolingo. I am also an avid language learner, so I have created a forum for that type of thing- http://forum.languavel.net/index.php.

    Cheers!

    Cierra

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