Recently, I spent more time on supportgroups.com instead of DailyStrength. The reason why I switched my taste because supportgroups.com changed its webpage design and it becomes more appealing than DailyStrength. Previously as I engaged in supportgroups.com, I found it was quite monotonous and disorganized since it contains too much information that was not arranged into categories, so I preferred DailyStrength which have a warmer atmosphere. However, supportgroups.com seemed to read my mind and changed their webpage recently into a more categorized user-friendly page.
Last time during presentation, I talked about the hierarchy of belts that users can achieve according to their participation points they gain when they provide support. In order to gain these points, users need to make comments to other users’ post to show their support in the group. But they won’t gain any if they are the one who make the post. As they achieve more belts, it is harder for them to get the next belt because they need a lot more points for it. Now I got my yellow belt and I was on the top of the Supporters of the Day chart previously because I made a lot of comments on different users’ post in the ‘Support Someone’ section. At first, I felt that having the points system is not a good idea because I predict that users will become less supportive and truthful in the comments when the posts are hitting quite personal and sensitive topics. However, I discovered that it is actually beneficial for the users because it motivates them to participate and develop trust on each other. According to my observation, the number of belts seems to be an indicator of the trustworthiness of the users. Those who possess more color belts make more detailed and constructive comments on vulnerable individuals and these individuals in turn found that their response are quite supportive. By having the motivation to achieve these belts, I think it encourages users to help each other and at the same time it makes them feel better about themselves with a more favorable perception from others and become more bonded in the community.
Besides, it is also a rewarding experience when users are gaining more trust on me as they give positive response to my comments. My next goal now is to provide more support to others and achieve the aqua belt.
I am glad supportgroups.com made their website more user friendly. Creating a webpage that is user friendly is so important because users want a webpage that will give them the best experience. I highly doubt that many users like to go on a webpage that is cluttered and full of designs. Users need a simple, professional design that is ultimately user friendly
ReplyDeleteI really like the sites that you are working with, I never really knew what kind of support groups were out there until I saw your presentation and checked the sites out for myself. I think is really cool that people can get points for how often they help others out. At first I was also a little uncomfortable with people gaining points based on how many times they helped others out, but now I see that the more points the, the more trustful. I think it is wonderful to see support groups for so many things, not only for problems that a person may have, but for interests that someone has as well.
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