For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction - Isaac Newton
Recently I sent a broadcast message to one of my WhatsApp groups. I got no reply or any form of acknowledgement from the group members. I was sure they had seen the messages because WhatsApp provided me with a reaction (blue ticks) which meant they had all seen the message. Of course, I got a reaction from WhatsApp, but it was not equal as Newton suggested. So I became furious and followed up with another string of messages. This time with a stronger tone, expressing my frustration. And I got what I was looking for. An acknowledgement. Feedback. The right reaction. or whatever you prefer to call it.
Thinking about this incidence, I figured my expectations could have been built up from the way social media have conditioned me to expect an instant reaction from my communications with the external world. Instant stats, Likes, retweets, comments etc for every post I put on any social media platform, is now the norm.
Recreating this experience in a software or application requires the knowledge of micro-interactions.
Here’s how the mechanism works:
A user Triggers action following a set of Rules, then goes on to receive a Feedback while the whole system runs in Loops & Modes.
My ideal app or software is functional, has a lean UI with logical user flow. And I would argue that a factor that constitutes a major difference between a good and bad user experience is the right amount of micro-interactions.
