UX Design and the Rise of the Platforms
By Denise Mann, UCLA Professor and PI, Havas 18 Digital Incubator and Think Tank (DIT)
While Netflix gets the lions’ share of press with its global expansion and proposed $6.1 billion investment in original content in 2017, this essay focuses primarily on the media and entertainment aspirations of “the big four” tech platforms — Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (GAFA). There is a major shift underway as the culture industries shift from the mass media logic of Hollywood’s manufacturing economy to the social media logic of Silicon Valley’s tech platform economy.[1] In laymen’s terms, the once dominant Hollywood media industries are under siege as an increasingly powerful Silicon Valley tech platform economy uses media and entertainment as a lure to keep consumers inside their digital ecosystems. In the platform economy, data analytics are the prize, not the valuable media franchises associated with Hollywood’s manufacturing economy.
YouTube helped inaugurate the “global web TV” content derby by unleashing a virtual avalanche of short-form, “snackable” online content on their advertising-supported streaming platform, with Facebook launching its own dedicated video player in 2015. The seemingly endless supply of online content has left most consumers with an overwhelming feeling of “app fatigue.” Some consumers resist corporately-devised algorithms (i.e., “if you liked this book, song, or click-bait news headline, you may also like this one…”) and prefer human curators — aka influencers — who can advise them on what they should watch, listen to, or read. As a result, influencers have spawned new forms of industry in support of the top 5–10% of micro-celebrities who have amassed thousands of followers and hence are able to attract brand deals and prompt merchandising sales; however, for the remaining 90%, the precarious labor circumstances leave these budding creator-entrepreneurs unable to earn a living wage.
Another form of industry spawned by the tech-platform economy are third-party developers who produce content-marketing hybrids that align with UX/UI design innovations, such as “touch,” “liveness,” or “immersivity,” and make consumers feel as if they are inside digital playgrounds rather than digital factories. For example, Purpose Labs developed a mobile app for the Kardashian-Jenner sisters to enhance their sales of consumer products by providing “live” footage of the sisters wearing a particular brand of beauty care, fashion or jewelry while they are holding court inside glamorous, real-world spaces, such as a Louis Vuitton shop in Paris, a Milan fashion show, or a trendy restaurant in Los Angeles.
The “big four” platforms are best equipped to design innovative algorithms to manage this overabundance of content given their massive cloud computing capabilities and ability to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline user experience. For example, Amazon was the first to release Echo, an inexpensive hardware-software integration that functions as a “smart speaker” linked to Amazon’s “personal assistant,” Alexa. The resulting voice navigation function allows consumers to lower their thermostat or replenish the empty milk carton in their refrigerator without a physical interface (e.g., laptop, tablet, or mobile phone). Of course, these new voice navigation tools also require you to buy additional tech-driven services to make sure you have a “smart home” and “smart car.” The resulting flood of “smart” consumer products prompted the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) to give them their own name and acronym: The Internet of Things and IoT. In case you haven’t yet fully cut cords to your expensive cable system, Amazon introduced Alexa to the masses via a series of Superbowl commercials, including one that depicted a hung-over Alec Baldwin getting a call from a panicked Jason Swartzman after a night of debauchery. Alec’s response was to tell Alexa + Echo to order him a new pair of Bresciani silk socks. Message received — online, retail therapy can resolve life’s most pressing issues.
Tech platforms are essentially utilities focused on aligning consumers and a vast repository of online goods and services (e.g., shopping, banking, news, housing, travel, and more). Until Netflix and YouTube Red started manufacturing original content, most tech platforms relied exclusively on third-party developers to engage in the risky and costly task of manufacturing media and entertainment. Today, advertisers and marketers are joining the ranks of Hollywood’s storied production cultures to generate their own content designed to sell a lifestyle along with a product.[2] These Frankenstein-like combinations of man-made culture and machine-made algorithms have resulted in a myriad of new forms of algorithmic culture, including: Amazon Twitch, Pokemon Go, Snapchat Filters, and Facebook Chatbots.
Amazon’s acquisition of Twitch provides a useful case-study of how to turn “snackable” content into lifestyle marketing that inspires online shopping. First, Twitch Interactive provided Amazon with access to a ready-made audience of hardcore gamers, who had already adapted their game-play in the home to include live or on-demand virtual experiences, such as watching expert gamers compete on stage in a stadium setting. Second, Twitch Interactive helped Amazon lure gamers to purchase their computer games and equipment via the Amazon marketplace and to purchase a vast array of game-related merchandise via third-party developers, such as Loot Crate, a subscription box service. Third, Twitch Interactive provided Amazon with access to additional niche audiences via non-gamer content; for example, boomer-generation foodies were invited to watch episodes of Julia Child’s cooking show, The French Chef (1963–1973) via a Twitch marathon[3]; younger millennial and Gen Z foodies were encouraged to watch others engaged in “social eating.”
As these examples suggest, Twitch Interactive provided a way for Amazon to use media content to attract new customers for its ecommerce business with minimal upfront costs simply by recycling outdated libraries or by enlisting prosumers to post, share, and chat about moments from their everyday lives. The two forms of food-related content described above not only help Amazon attract more consumers to its digital ecosystem, but they also stimulate online shopping sprees by encouraging audiences to acquire the latest kitchen appliance via one-click or to enlist Amazon Fresh to deliver groceries and gourmet food for their next dinner party at home. Through its partnership with Twitch Interactive, Amazon has been able to harness a myriad of new ways for consumers to engage with consumer products (e.g., un-boxing, commenting on, sharing reviews, etc.). In the near future, Amazon VR promises to transport consumers to glamorous, fictional, and virtual worlds. Imagine standing next to the fashion-forward denizens of The Capital in The Hunger Games or enjoying a cocktail with Don and Betty Draper in Mad Men and being able to press a “buy now” button to emulate their vintage looks. [4]
Given that the “big four” corporate gatekeepers are increasingly invested in media and entertainment as a lure to keep consumers inside their 24–7 digital factories, you should not be surprised if these new, addictive, snackable forms of online entertainment also invite you to click, like, share, and comment rather than simply watch and listen. Have you tried Pokemon Go, Snapchat filters, Amazon Twitch, Facebook 360, Instagram Shop Now Buttons, or Pinterest Pins yet? Welcome to the work of art (as advertising) in the age of algorithmic culture.[5]
Denise Mann is a Professor in the UCLA Department of Film, TV, and Digital Media and PI of the Havas 18-UCLA TFT Digital Incubator and Thinktank (DIT). Special thanks to Havas executives Frederic Josue and Thomas Jorion for their support; thanks also to the UCLA Cinema and Media Studies doctoral students, who are examining UX/UI design in the platform economy.
[1] Understanding Social Media Logic | José van Dijck, Thomas Poell | Media and Communication
[2] Use Content Marketing to Sell a Lifestyle, Not a Product | Firas Kittaneh|The Huffington Post
[3]Julia Child is the next PBS star to get a Twitch marathon |Peter Bright |Ars Technica
[4] Amazon is creating a new virtual reality platform | Rich McCormick | The Verge
[5] The ideas presented here will be addressed in greater detail in a forthcoming book (Content Wars: Pipelines vs. Platforms) and at the forthcoming conference, Transforming Hollywood 8: The Work of Art in the Age of Algorithmic Culture at UCLA on May 5, 2017.
