Project
Pod Social
Role
Brand Identity
UI/UX
Pod Social
Social Feature
This project is a speculative add-on feature to the Apple Podcast app. Researching podcast listeners and their habits, I found that podcasts are a unique medium that relies heavily on social circles and word of mouth. To accomodate these habits, this is a proposed social feature that would increase podcast listenership by recommending podcasts listened to by your social circle, being able to send people in your circle podcasts, and being able to curate your own profile.
“One-third of Americans listen to podcasts monthly with one-quarter of these listeners tuning in on a weekly basis”
-Source
Brand Audit
Unclear distinction between "Up Next" and "Latest Episodes".
Sharing is generic and impersonal, to the experience, no option for sending a timestamp or to share directly with friends.
Lack of accessibility - closed captions not available for those hard of hearing.
Cluttered and overwhelming interface with unnecessary information taking up space.
Some tabs overlap functions, (e.x. "browse" and "search" tab could be consolidated.)
Lack of personalization for your own interests.
Interviews
​To get a better understanding of people's motivations and habits listening to podcasts, I conducted a survey with 21 participants who regularly listen to podcasts in the age range of 19 - 29.
41.7%
listened to a podcast because someone recommended it to them.
Users find a good amount of their podcasts through their social circles and word of mouth, not from in-app recommendations. Podcasts have low barriers for entry, they're accessible, easy to try out, and rely heavily on word of mouth. And yet, the podcast app does not accommodate these user habits with a social feature.
User Flow
Current User Flow
Opportunity to intervene and streamline, so that user have a native feature to send and receive podcasts.
Improved User Flow
Keep users on the app by adding a native social feature. Increased range of recommended podcasts by using recommendations from people in your circle. Podcasts are unique from other forms of media, in terms of the massive social aspect of recommendations/word of mouth. This feature will alleviate the friction of jumping from app to app to recommend or receive podcasts and increase listenership.
Types of Social Feeds
Apple Music
Allows users to show others what they're listening to, who follows them, whom they follow, and playlists they've made.
Twitter populates content with an infinite scroll, showing what people you follow have liked or reposted.
Co-Star
Co-star gives you personalized information and things to note or pay attention to daily. It also gives you advice on who to lean on, who to avoid, using friends profiles and their respective signs.
Lo-fi Wireframes
Flow A
In this flow, the social feed is populated by showcasing podcasts that your friends have recently listened to or recommended. this would be a hybrid of the apple music social feed and the co-star social feed. Users will also be able to personalize their home page by organizing their podcasts into different folders depending on their genre/subject, and giving the user more personalized recommendations.
Flow B
In this flow, the feed would be more similar to the Twitter model, where users can infinitely scroll down their feed and see their friend's activity, like which podcasts they listen to or like.
Interview + Key Insights
After my research on social feeds, I wanted to understand what type of social feed would make the most sense for the podcast app. Again, I interviewed and conducted user testing on podcast listeners in their twenties, testing flow A and flow B.
"I don't like the infinite scroll, I would rather have less information that's more relevant to me."
"It would be cool to see what my friends are listening to since we have similar interests."
"I wish there were more
"Anytime I hear about a cool podcast in conversation I have to write it down. I would love to be able to do all of that in the app."
People preferred flow A because they did not like the idea of a social feed adapted for a podcast app.
Users feel overwhelmed by the number of social features in apps nowadays, so it’s best to keep things simple and customized.
Users liked the idea of personalizing their profile and organizing their podcasts.
Final Prototype
Sending
Users can send a podcast they're listening to directly to their friend through the share button. Users can send at specific time stamps and add comments.
Profiles
With the introduction of social profiles, users can see their friends profiles, what they recommend, what they're listening to, and which podcasts you both listen to
Customizing Profile
You can create and customize your own profile, curating what recommendations you have for friends, and categorize your podcasts into folders using familiar iOS
Settings
So that the user doesn't have any privacy concerns, we give complete control of who can see what you're listening to.
Add Friends
Add friends from your network, see what mutual podcasts you listen to, invite other people to the podcast app.
Messages
Users can send messages to their friends and send specific podcasts with time stamps.