What are your favourite social media features?
Corey Knight
22 replies
When using a social media app, what is it particularly that keeps you engaged as an active user? Is it the community, UI, or specific features of the app that draw you in?
Irrespective of the theme or niche, what essential functions should a social media app be able to do well in order to retain you as a user?
Replies
Blondelle Pai@blondelle_pai
I like app with a strong focus on content discovery and personalization. Features that recommend relevant posts and let me easily share content keep me active
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@blondelle_pai yes! Ensuring to allow a user to really create “their space” is a great way to keep people engaged with a social platform. Being able to personalise your experience makes for very good user satisfaction. Thanks a lot for your comment 😊
I really enjoy social media app with clean, , simple designs and features that make connecting with friends easy. Good notifications and engaging content keep me coming back.
@itohan_blessing_eigbadon I completely agree about notifications - keeping users up-to-date on what’s happening on the platform and how other users engage with their content is vital. An app which offers easy and seamless interaction with friends makes for a great UX. Thank you for the response 😁
I’m hooked on apps that have strong community features and allow me to interact with others through comments and messages. A smooth, intuitive UI also keeps me engaged.
@zainab_adamu1 building an intuitive design is crucial. I’ve found even the slightest bit of confusion surrounding a particular functionality can cause an instant drop in engagement. Keeping things straightforward is key, and straightforward communication/interaction between users is also a must! Thanks for your insight!
For me, its a good community and reward points ( likes, upvotes, etc.) of your social sharing
@tariq_waseem reward points is a really good one! Something that keeps users coming back and encourages them to engage with the app in different ways. Thanks!
Definitely a fan of the 'Stories' feature on Instagram and other apps - super engaging way to share quick life updates with friends. Also the TikTok algorithm is scarily good at surfacing interesting content I didn't even know I wanted to see. But overall I'm with you, clean design and easy connection with friends are the must-haves that keep me coming back to certain apps over others.
@cedricjudehawthorne stories is a good one! You’re totally right, a great way to post quick snippets. Additionally, for those users who don’t frequently do “proper” posts etc, stories is the perfect way to still keep them engaged. Thanks for the thought!
I'm a fan of social media features that make it easy to customize privacy settings for each post. Also love seeing suggestions for people I may know based on mutual connections. But the killer feature is def a great meme feed - I could scroll those for hours 😂
Yup, a clean and intuitive UI is key for me in social apps. Push notifications for important activity help pull me back in. And of course, seeing great content from friends and people I follow is the main thing that gets me to open the app each day!
Nothing i dont like social media
Temporary posts that disappear after 24 hours because great for sharing moments without cluttering profiles
@chioma_nzomiwu this is an interesting one I hadn’t really thought of, but I definitely agree with. There’s lots of scenarios where a temporary post is perfect, things such as polls, asking for opinions etc? Thanks for the thought!
Collaborating on collections of posts and reels on Instagram with a group of people.
Blocking
Trangram
I was curious about this too! I had a similar experience when I tried to add some social features to my web app (which I'm launching soon). I thought it would be great for users to share what they create with others, all in one place. But even basic functions like posts, comments, replies, likes/upvotes, and sharing options (links, embeds, APIs) took a lot of effort. Then there were things like following, notifications, reporting inappropriate content, sorting, content suggestions, and discovering users and content, it was a lot to handle.
Through it all, I realized that content and community are what really matter. I’m a bit obsessed with clean and intuitive UI, but the popularity of Reddit, despite its not-so-smooth UX and compact UI in earlier days, really shows that people value the community and content above all.
@derek_liu_dev this was really insightful. I’m in a similar position that I’m also working on a web app, and so I’m looking for engaging social features to implement. I can totally relate in what you say about the basic functions being intensive to implement, and so I’m trying to prioritise what should make it into the MVP rather than falling into the trap of premature optimisation. As you’ve said in your final sentence, community is what keeps people engaged with a platform, and so it feels essential to get some strong social features implemented well.
Good luck with your launch! I’ll keep an eye out as it sounds great. Thanks a lot for the comment, it’s really great to hear from someone in a similar position.
Trangram
@coreyk03 Thanks, glad it helps! Let me be more specific: since I’m building a free design tool for animation, social features aren’t essential or just nice to have at this moment. In the end, it depends on the core value of your web app and how social features would help in your case. Just my 2 cents
@derek_liu_dev sounds really cool! Yeah I totally agree, I’m working social media web app which is why this is my focus at the moment. Thanks again, I really appreciate your thoughts 😊