Product Lifecycle
Value proposition:
Social media makes it easy to forget there are human beings on the other side of your feed. Inspired by restorative justice, Roundup is a messaging platform designed to elevate the qualities that make us human, not suppress them.
What does it look like for the first 10 users? Consider which features provide the core product value.
- Restorative circle interface and system design
- Group messaging web plugin application
- User accounts
- Instructions for use
- Emoji reactions
- Bad actor/content flagging
- Feelings check-ins
- Website
- Mobile application
What needs to change to scale to 1,000 users? Consider features that will require some user adoption before you can integrate them. Consider features that will require more substantial resources to achieve (funding, baseline review, etc).
- Simultaneous circle use by many users
- Restorative conference/conflict resolution interface and system design
- Adapts to each platform’s look and feel
- Automated bad actor/content flagging
- Checks and balances for misinformation
Will your product be integral to each phase? Is it weak in any phase? Is it unnecessary in any phase?
My product is weak in the first phase when it comes to bad actor/content flagging. It runs into the same issues that other platforms do, primarily that someone will always find a way to use it for harm, especially when they have the freedom to write whatever they want to whomever they want. Even if guidelines and expectations are clearly laid out, the application, no matter how well designed, can’t prevent someone from using harmful language. But, it can prevent people from direct messaging other uses, and it can limit how people contribute content by going beyond text boxes and messaging. I also need to decide if every circle interaction needs to have a clearly designated facilitator. Using this product shouldn’t be more time-consuming than using other platforms, like Facebook and Twitter
What can you leave out? What is it critical to be a part of?
The website and mobile application could be moved to the 1,000+ users phase. Designing the mobile interaction is hard to let go of, since social media platforms are primarily mobile applications. And there’s the potential future where no one uses desktop devices anymore.
