Behind-the-Scenes: A UX Deep Dive
TL;DR of our UX Research kickoff meeting. Spoiler: it’s the birthplace of big ideas, caffeine-fueled brainstorms, and the occasional existential crisis about algorithms.
Alright, Party Peeps, buckle up—here’s your TL;DR of our Research & Design kickoff meeting. Spoiler: it’s the birthplace of big ideas, caffeine-fueled brainstorms, and the occasional existential crisis about algorithms.
Kasarra’s Synthesis
Our Senior Researcher kicked things off with a big ol’ brain dump of UX research findings. Themes like “international community,” “safety & data protection,” and “better-than-TikTok algorithms” dominated the sticky notes. Oh, and fun fact—Kasey used to be a developer, so she’s got all the nerd cred.
Top ideas included:
Decentralized AI that connects worldwide communities (yep, our crowd is dreaming big).
Algorithms that don’t feel like an abusive relationship: customizable, mood-based, and with sliders that let you switch between “cat videos” and “global controversies.”
Ensuring it’s as Creator-friendly as possible; the world doesn’t need more influencers, we need more community-builders and -inspirers.
Building hubs for creators to gather their people, IRL events included; connect people back to their local communities.
Functionality for mobilizing behind the causes and ideas that are important to us.
The “Why Can’t We Just Tune Our Algorithm” Epiphany
Big love for the concept of tuning an algorithm instead of “training” it (because no one has time to wrestle with likes and shares just to escape politics for a day). Imagine telling your algorithm exactly what you want to see.
“Show me cat videos, I can’t do politics today.”
“Show me conspiracy theories, all of them.”
More granular control over one’s FYP also gives us the ability to determine how much of an echo chamber we really want to be in…rather than the algo just deciding to put us into a box.
Would you like to remain perpetually in an echochamber (Y/N)?
Cave or sunlight?
We want to make it possible for people to make the conscious choice to be exposed to new ideas, cultures, things outside their norm. As we like to say:
“Out of the echo chambers, onto the bridges.”
Also pitched: a button to see the “inverse of your feed.” You know, to challenge your worldview and maybe blow your mind.
Creators Are Key
Everyone agreed: if we win creators, we win the crowd. Features they’d love? Tools to make creating easier, monetization that doesn’t suck, and customizable hubs for all their content. Plus, imagine micro-courses living right on their profile. Why stop at TikTok when we can TikTok and teach?
We’re running separate, more focused research for Creators in tandem.
When I tell you we’re trying to think of everything…I mean it.
The Tech Talk (aka How Adam Keeps Us Grounded)
We love Adam, our Technical Steward for giving us all reality checks. Because he keeps us grounded but as he also says:
“I believe in working toward a yes.”
He told us what’s actually possible with our volunteer dev resources (basically: 4 volunteer devs = 1 full-time dev). The plan? Start simple. Leverage BlueSky’s open-source code, clean it up, and get a basic app out the door. Fancy features like sentiment-flipping feeds and creator utopias can come later.
Bonus idea: turn our first app launch into a “housewarming gift” for users. Bring their TikTok data into the new app seamlessly, like Apple does with your phone backups. That would be the chef’s kiss of user onboarding vibes.
Final Thoughts
Everyone left hyped. Research is moving, ideas are flowing, the build has already begun, and our collective’s PeopleTok dream is becoming real. Do you have more ideas? Share them below, or better yet, post them in the Reddit!
Stay tuned for more updates—because this app isn’t just a TikTok clone. It’s a revolution. 🚀