FOMAP — Fear of Missing a Photo
Imagine this… you’re at your 25th birthday having the time of your life. Your significant other went all out with a surprise party. She (or he) arranged a giant BBQ buffet with a chocolate fountain, your favorite outdoor tailgating games, and fifty of your closest friends. Additionally, she hired a professional photographer to document the entire thing and told you to “live in the moment” and not take pictures.
The next day you wake up to find your friend posted a picture on their social media account of you blowing out your candles commemorating your special day. You look through the photographer’s photos and realize your friend had a significantly better angle of you blowing out your candles. Now you spend the next day bugging your friend to send over the pictures to find an hour later that another one of the attendees has even better ones. The chain of events continues for a week until you finally get ahold of the perfect collection of pictures from your special day.
Introducing: Mixby — an experience-sharing mobile application built to ensure you don’t miss the important moments. You’ll never have to worry again about tracking down the individual with the perfect picture.
Overview & Set-Up
Mixby coins itself as a “memory maker.” As mentioned in the introduction, the app keeps individuals from missing moments of an experience, a common occurrence because you can’t be everywhere in an event at once. Rather than being forced to track down every individual that took the perfect picture or having to play the ‘okay now send that photo to everyone’ game, the platform allows guests at an event to share their media seamlessly.
Set-up is simple. When a user initially opens the app, they are given apple’s security “click to allow notifications” prompt and then sign in through three channels: apple, google, or a Mixby-specific account. Once logged in, the main screen appears with a classic map overlay (apple maps, google maps, etc.) that shows the user’s location and the Mixby events (referred to in the app terminology as simply “a Mixby” [noun]) in their area.
Gameplay, Accessibility & Strengths
The gameplay and UI are intuitive and straightforward. The user has the freedom to scroll and look for little Mixby flags from the main map. They can toggle between the initial map or a list view of current Mixbys in the area. There’s also an option to look specifically at scheduled Mixbys or previous ones the user attended. The standard re-centering arrow symbol is in the bottom right corner if the user gets lost scrolling around the map. Finally, centered at the bottom of the map is a plus symbol, which is how users create an event.
Users have two options when creating a Mixby: 1) “create a specific event” — an option for users who want to build out a more detailed event (time duration, cover photo, zone radius for sharing, guest list, etc.) 2) “create a quick event” — an option for users who want to start an event immediately and wants to go back and potentially make edits later. Mixbys can be public or private (invite online)
Once a user clicks on a Mixby, they can scroll through all the pictures and videos (let’s say media for now on) taken at the event, displayed by highest engagement (ranked through likes and comments). Users can like, comment, save, or share the media from a menu on the right side of the UI. The bottom left icon (a circle with a grid inside) displays the highest-rated media and comments about the event. Lastly, by clicking the camera icon centered at the bottom, users can upload their pictures by taking live-time or their camera roll.
Overall, the app is highly accessible. The UI is intuitive and easy to understand. The interface isn’t cluttered, and icons are distinguishable if not labeled. Menus seamlessly lead to the next with no confusion.
User Motivations & Intentions
According to the Leveraging Engagement model, I’ve identified Entertainment, Social Connection, Play, and Exploration as the top four user motivations for interacting with the platform. First, and probably the most significant motivation, is Social Connection. Mixby adds a deeper layer of social connectivity within an event through media engagement. Users will feel significantly more connected to an event as they can share media and direct message people before, during, and after. Additionally, users will be entertained by looking back at the event they attended, can participate by submitting media and engaging with it from their device, and explore cities by attending other Mixbys.
Breaking Down the Four Stages of Activation
Audience: Users will probably engage with Mixby independently on their devices. A group of users could be scrolling collectively, but everyone must have the app downloaded to interact with the app.
Access: Mixby is accessible to anyone with a mobile device connected to the internet/cell service. It is available in both the Apple App Store and Google Play. Users can engage with the app anytime and anywhere.
Agenda: Users will be most interested in Mixby when they attend an event that includes a lot of media sharing. Mixby can also find events in the area if a user is looking for something to do.
Attractors: Users will be attracted to the app to find media from an event, re-connect with people they met, and reminisce about a fantastic event.
Weaknesses, Opportunity, and Recommendations:
Mixby does a lot of things well, but there is room for improvement. First, when I’m trying to upload media, the app will often time out or glitch, leaving me unable to participate in the experience. Second, the app says, “scroll up to be the first to leave a comment on this photo,” but I can’t figure out how to comment (it could also just be my device). Third, when looking at current Mixbys in the area, I still see the initial Experiential Storytelling class (it’s been two weeks). Fourth, when I click on “my profile,” I can toggle between public and private, but I can’t figure out what it means. I assume that my account changes from public to private, but no message pops up, so I’m unsure.
Regarding creating a Mixby, there needs to be an area to provide a description (I would make it required) so attendees can learn more about the event. Additionally, I’d recommend adding a spot for zoom integration (or an internal video chat platform) for online events to provide a seamless transition. Next, when creating an event, I was given an option to “add an image for a great first impression,” but I don’t know where that image went. Another recommendation would be to allow co-hosts and the option to enlist a business as the host (it currently looks as though I can’t change anything in the “Event Host” box).
Regarding some other recommendations, first, I would allow users to build a more extensive profile, as it’s currently just a name and a picture. Second, I would move the “help” button to the main page. Additionally, I would build out an FAQ and not just provide three tutorial videos. Third, Mixby should use the excess space on the top of the screen. My thoughts are to add the highest-ranked events in the area, most active users, a list of the events you’ve “favorited” or “RSVPed” to (two other features that Mixby should integrate). Fourth, Mixby needs to be accessible via Desktop or PC so people can look at photos on a bigger screen and see a larger map. Lastly, I would recommend partnering with production companies, hotels, theaters, and other places that constantly host events. These partnerships would provide an influx of events into the Mixby database and position the platform as a highly sought-after event promotion service.
Looking Outside the Platform
I think Mixby is in a great spot considering there are many fantastic event promotion and photo-sharing platforms, but nothing that seamlessly integrates the two. Mixby’s biggest hurdles they’ll have to overcome are making themselves an industry standard. They’re going to have to prove there is a reason that users should build their events in Mixby to share media rather than just using Facebook Events, GroupMe, Next-door, a shared google drive, or airdrop. Apple has addressed this issue by creating shared folder capabilities and shared photo clouds that users can join from any type of device (including desktop and PC) through a link.
Bibliography:
https://iphonephotographyschool.com/icloud-photo-sharing/
