ABSTRACT
This chapter returns to the original research question guiding this book: “What can social media feedback tell us about audience and user experience?” The book explores a usability research approach called social web usability, defined as the review of social media feedback to learn more about audience response to website usability. Two case studies review ways that audience members provided feedback on websites through social media channels such as blogs, webforms, Facebook, and Twitter. Analyses of these cases demonstrates that audience members regularly contributed impressions (to share opinions) and issues (to share problems). In addition, social media feedback was filled with contextual user stories in the forms of “minis” and “treks” which described individual motivations as well as website paths and obstacles. Further, the case studies demonstrate ways in which social media feedback opened opportunities for organizational response, and how social media can foster dialogues that can propel ongoing usability discussions.
This chapter also returns to rhetorical concepts connected to social web usability such as composite audience, identification, and adherence. Cases demonstrate that social media has the potential to show a range of varied audience experiences (composite audience), identification of key audience issues (identification), and attempts at dialogue to address issues or move audiences toward further action (adherence). In short, social web usability has a story to tell about audience(s) that can greatly inform usability work. Further, social web usability can be described as public, dialogic, just-in-time, and organic. As a supplemental approach, social web usability can lay important groundwork for learning about audience that might enhance other usability research methods. In addition, social web usability potentially reinforces our understanding of help systems away from static product documentation and toward dynamic conversation and persuasion. Social web usability illustrates one step toward understanding ways social media sheds insights on awareness of multiple audiences and their uses of complex websites.
