The title is totally random.... I mean... OK, just b4 i decide to do this , i found this Lonely Island creation, totally hilarious, and guys :D be sure to check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI6CfKcMhjY&feature=relmfu
Since we are asked to do a blog post, i suppose this case study would be rather leisure :D so.... let me get started! read while listening to the awesome song plz !!!!
This app is actually quite a complete one. I would say quite concrete functionality. I can only spot a few, i wouldn't say mistakes, but rather disagreements in their UI element.
Top right corner has 4 tabs, like shown above. However, on the first look they are kinda cool. But actually it stands out of the page, meaning, well, they do not look like a part of the page, when everything is horizontal/vertical, it is not a very good idea to make slanted buttons. But of course, it depends on the page slide in/out movements also. if the pages slide in and out 45 degrees parallel to the buttons, then, maybe it will offset the uncomfortableness of the buttons, or even make it damn cool ! But now, for what i can see, there is a bit of weirdness in this page.
Moving on to next !
This is the page where the user upload his call for help!! This page has a problem, it has too much information! Its like filling up a survey, perhaps it would be nicer to have a setting section to handle certain settings such as how do you want your call for help's visibility to be and things. So this page will become a bit less wordy.
My team is actually making something like this for the 2nd assignment, actually a major problem of such app is that : how to get users to keep using it. For our app it is a bit like posting jokes and amuse each other things, so their is a fun element to it. However for this app, it is kinda serious, getting help from other people. If it is the case that people only come here to post their problem but they do not come here to help people, then the app will be pretty much dead. Thus it is crucial that a reward element is included in this app. In the given example, badges are rewarded to helpers, which makes a lot of sense :D so well done guys , whoever you are <3.
But even with this, its actually kind of hard to keep people interested in helping others. One thing a lot of ask and answer sites do is that, when you first register, you get some points. You set up bounty for ppl who answer your question, and the points can be used to some other stuff in other sectors of the website :D But for this game... there are no other sectors so....
Actually to be frank, facebook is not an evolving platform for apps anymore. Renren, with its much larger user-base and much more developer friendly environment has definitely taken over fb in terms of apps. There is actually a very cool model of app in renren, that is , for example, a pet game and a chess game is linked, where you can get your avatar for your chess game through playing the pet game. It is really a very cool model as it encourages growth of users for both linked apps :D Perhaps it would be super cool for this app to do the same.
Link with another game app say for example, you use the currency in that game to set up bounty for your question, people playing that game will want to help others in call for help app in order to get game currency. Things like this.
Another thing about this kind of app is that, well , the initial group of users is very important. Thus, for this kind of app, I feel it is crucial that it is release slowly to a group of really nice , helpful, resourceful guys first. Imagine if it is immediately released to public, some jerk may come posting stuff like need help to get my xxxx sucked blah blah. Even though admin can erase these postings very quickly, the damage is done. It is unlikely that a first time user will continue to use this app when the first thing he sees after registration is frustrating msg like that.
This is one of the issues that Im always interested in :D things like, even though the technology is ripe, people are not ripe enough to make use of certain technologies. The same goes to one of the groups that came to pitch on Monday. The one about changing the investment model. Really brilliant idea, but com'on.... I doubt anyone will do it because eventually :D the world is only getting more and more materialistic, people will only care about money more and more, that is the observable trend.
Ok, I was talking about pretty big stuff just now. I cant allow my thoughts to drift on XD , so this will be the end of my case study.
P.S. i know we have a week's extension.... but com'on.... its still within the deadline of assignment 2... so does it matter when i do it? ........
