11–20 of 276 posts
But how do you measure success, we're a messaging app. - Total messages sent - Number of conversations.
Measuring any of this will mean we optimise keeping users on the platform.
We're trying active conversations, where to be active means only at least one message per week. We'd love to find a metric which went up as each individual user spent less time on memo. A "time to solution" metric
Very much so. It's something we're trying to push back on at https://sendmemo.app But how do you measure success, we're a messaging app. - Total messages sent - Number of conversations. Measuring any of this will mean we optimise keeping users on the platform. We're trying active conversations, where to be active means only at least one message per week. We'd love to find a metric which went up as each individual use…
"User Engagement" is now indeed code for "Addiction," but not because user engagement has changed in any meaningful way. It's because society has been transforming terms that used to have medical/clinical definitions to mean something completely different. PTSD and OCD are two more examples.
I've heard OCD used casually/incorrectly before, but never PTSD. Is that really a common term?
"I wanna be hopeful about the Bears' playoff run, but I've got PTSD from last year's reverse sweep"
I hear stuff like this pretty commonly, yeah.
"User Engagement" is now indeed code for "Addiction," but not because user engagement has changed in any meaningful way. It's because society has been transforming terms that used to have medical/clinical definitions to mean something completely different. PTSD and OCD are two more examples.
I've heard OCD used casually/incorrectly before, but never PTSD. Is that really a common term?
I personally suffer from C-PTSD (C=Complex) stemming from childhood trauma. C-PTSD (generalized as PTSD caused over months/years vs. a single or cluster of traumatic events, e.g. warfare) is still relatively new compared to the traditional understanding of PTSD.
So there is some legitimate expansion of the definition of PTSD.
But one thing I've noticed since I received the diagnosis is just how many people around me use the term "PTSD" casually.
- "That project gave me PTSD"
- "I have PTSD from my last boss"
- "I have PTSD from the last four years of political upheaval"
Now, I should be clear, I do think it's possible to be impacted by truly traumatic circumstances that don't rise to the level of what we traditionally think about when we hear the term.
But I also see the term used far too casually, far too often.
Very much so. It's something we're trying to push back on at https://sendmemo.app But how do you measure success, we're a messaging app. - Total messages sent - Number of conversations. Measuring any of this will mean we optimise keeping users on the platform. We're trying active conversations, where to be active means only at least one message per week. We'd love to find a metric which went up as each individual use…
I quite like the idea of measuring "time to solution" somehow, particularly for more business- or productivity-oriented software. I guess that doesn't make sense if you're making a video game or a social network, though.
Yes, you can argue social media is harmful, but it generally does not cause people to lose their jobs or spend all their money.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've heard OCD used casually/incorrectly before, but never PTSD. Is that really a common term?
I think there are two things going on here. I personally suffer from C-PTSD (C=Complex) stemming from childhood trauma. C-PTSD (generalized as PTSD caused over months/years vs. a single or cluster of traumatic events, e.g. warfare) is still relatively new compared to the traditional understanding of PTSD. So there is some legitimate expansion of the definition of PTSD. But one thing I've noticed since I received the…
"User Engagement" is now indeed code for "Addiction," but not because user engagement has changed in any meaningful way. It's because society has been transforming terms that used to have medical/clinical definitions to mean something completely different. PTSD and OCD are two more examples.
If a service is monetized with ads, then the user is the product. We say that a lot but I think a lot of people still don't understand it, especially outside the tech sphere. "Engagement" isn't about building a better service; it's about serving more ads. "Driving user engagement" should be seen as synonymous with "psychologically manipulating users to use the service so they see ads".
Basically any app or service where there is a direct link from the amount of time the user spends on it to revenue incentivizes shady "Skinner box" addictive designs and other dark patterns.
The word “addiction” is overused in my opinion. Bad habits are not addictions. An addiction is something which actively harms you, but you can’t stop doing it. Yes, you can argue social media is harmful, but it generally does not cause people to lose their jobs or spend all their money.