Affinity Diagram
Research Question
The goal of this research was to find what ways parents are already using the internet to find play dates, as well as any offline ways that the user might find effective. Another goal was to find out the quality and compatibility level desired from "mom" friends. Additionally to find out what kinds of features a user would like to see in a play date finding app. This was done through a contextual inquiry, focusing on areas that could be expanded on or hidden niches that could be filled by an app.
Physical Environment
The interview took place at a local park over a two hour span. There were several interruptions due to the presence of children but the length of time devoted to discussion helped to compensate for interruptions. The children in several cases also helped to inspire conversation. By doing these interviews in a play area it served to allow the participant to be relaxed and did not interfere with the regular life of the participants and allowed them to participate without having to hire a babysitter.
Social Environment
A. Took place on playground at a local park that was convenient for the participant to get to and allowed for their children to be active and play relatively autonomously leaving the participant time to talk and discuss with the interviewer. There were several interruptions by children and one incident with a goose.
B. The online survey took place through various Facebook groups.
Participants
The interview participant is a 32 year old married Russian female, mother of two; the online participants were all female, 86.7% were stay at home moms. The participants fit the customer profile, they must be a parent of one or more children who is regularly at various outings and parks, interested in finding play dates for their children. In the beginning the customer base was imagined as mostly being stay at home moms, however this was determined to be too restrictive and the customer was reimagined to include a much broader base, although only moms answered the survey.
Figure 1. Breakdown of participants key statistics
Observations
Since this project had only one interviewer they were doing both the job of speaking and taking notes. Even so careful consideration was taken to make note of nonverbal signals which could express hidden thoughts or feelings about a task. Each interview consisted of two parts, the first was to gather relevant information about tools they currently use to find friends and play dates for their children, and the amount of social interaction they regularly engage in with other parents. The second part of the interview was more free form and helped uncover the way the customer would use a product like Playdate and allowed for the inclusion of questions not planned in the original interview.
· For all observations the participants had immediate access to their phone and the ability to bring up whatever relevant social media they might use.
- The most commonly used apps were Facebook, Big Tent, MommyNearest, and Nextdoor
- Facebook was by far the most commonly used to actually find play dates
- Big Tent is a yearly paid service that tried to organize play dates but the administration was accused of being coercive and invasive in its subscription model.
- MommyNearest while not a social app was used to find out where to hold play dates
- Nextdoor allowed for social linking with neighbors, not all of which were parents.
Contextual Inquiry Results
Interview Participant:
Site of Observation Fremont CA - Lake Elizabeth Park
Date Tuesday, February 16th, 2016
Time 10:15 AM – 11:45 AM
Domain Online and Real world medium uses for finding play dates.
Security was an issue for this participant, they felt uneasy with the idea of advertising their location on the app and requested the ability to accept location showing only to pre-approved users. They also expressed concern about male female interactions and suggested having three "meeting rooms" where it could be only mom, mixed, and only dads.
Further she suggested a virtual neighborhood watch and a park wide "Code Adam" and rating system in order to rate how well you like the mom you met with.
She expressed frustration with the tactics of current play date finders as predatory or blackmailing by threatening to kick her off their Facebook page if they don't pay a fee. She also expressed frustration with the cattiness of Facebook mom groups and the cliques they inspire.
Online Participants:
The online participants needs and concerns are divided into four main categories. These are types of friendships, compatibility, security, and app based issues.
Types of Friendships
The most common themes among the types of relationships wanted were friendships in which both parents and kids got along, that the friendship space was non-judgmental and discouraged cliques. They frequently used words like, "support networks", "lasting friendships", "kids around my kids age". This suggests the need to have a safe space, where bullying is prohibited. It might be useful to implement certain rules, things like support, don't scold, no sales or handouts or asking for financial assistance, no advertising, no rage quitting or flouncing off, and no fire-starting. The goal would be to make an environment of mutual support and compassion. Another concern was the inclusion of men into women's spaces. While 43.75% expressed that they would be ok with same sex parent friends, 37.5% were not interested in mixed sex friendships. The idea of multiple "rooms" for to address these types of concerns might be a possible solution.
I want a friendship that is supportive. Non-judgmental. Safe space to share ideas and vent.
Some moms are easy to make friends with but others act like high schoolers and cliques. I even see it in our group
I want a friendship that provides support networks, tips, play dates, mom time, my husband likes it when he has things in common with the other dads. I hope to even find lifelong friends.
The Facebook mom group is hit or miss. I hate cattiness though and a lot of the women in the City mom group act like they are still in high school, or all they want to do is hike, I don't have a baby sitter so I don't know how they get out so much without their kids. I'm not just looking for friends but parents whose parenting philosophy I agree with and who actually want to spend time with their kids.
I want to be able to share the journey of being a mom. It's really hard and society looks down on us and especially stay at home moms. I had a career before I became a mom, I was in insurance and I was good at it. I would like to be friends with a mom who understands that. Motherhood isn't always positive and you need someone to bitch to who won't judge you. You get it, you're honest about the struggles and that's what I am looking for.
I would be too afraid that dads would try to use the app like a dating or cheating service. There aren't a lot of female only spaces and that one of the things I like about the Facebook group. It's a mom only group and so it's a safe space for women.
Compatibility
The issue of compatibility was the most talked about. The theme was broken down into two subsections, would they use acompatibility profile and how important was compatibility to successful friendships and play dates. The vast majority of respondents felt that compatibility was a very important aspect of a successful "mom" friend. The most common themes were having similar core values, similar parenting beliefs, lack of judgment, and trustworthiness.
They were spit on the issues of a personality profile, some felt that it would narrow the pool of moms down, others wanted to have the chance to be around a lot of different kinds of people so their kids would not be closed minded.
These two issues seem to be in conflict with each other, there needs to be a lot of compatibility for a friendship to work but the fear is that a technical gauge like a personality profile might be limiting.
If a compatibility profile could be created that match moms within a certain range, as one mom suggested, "at least a 7 on a 1-10 scale" of compatibility then it would be beneficial to use a compatibility profile. They all felt the need to limit sharing to preapproved circles, chatting before meeting, but were in general okay with sharing kids ages, gender, interests, age, education and neighborhood.
Key quotes:
To be good friends you have to have similar parenting beliefs. To just be acquaintances I don't think matters as much. Very, I've met lots of mommies who it just is impossible to hang out with because they are so vocal about their mompinions or so judgey - it's easiest to just find compatible people who hold the same values
Being a mom is like being at war, it's like you say, we're war buddies, it doesn't really matter where we come from because we can all bond about being a mom, and it's important to keep your mind open to other people.
I'm not sure, because I'm not sure how the profile would rate these categories. I'm under 30, but most of my close friends are over 30 and we all come from different walks of life. Some people I hang out with, say it don't look like I would every hang out with them, so I'm not sure about the app. But I wouldn't mind giving it a try.
Security
The issue of security was also very important, the need to overcome the anonymity of the internet and find a safe group was a repeated theme. The suggestions were divided into four sections, general security, personal familiarity, location sharing and Facebook or other profile sharing. For general security the idea of background checks kept coming up, this has some limited potential, as you can get a background check for websites like Care.com, but it does cost money (about $25) and that might be prohibitively expensive not to mention time consuming for most moms. A potential use might be to offer it as part of a yearly subscription model. Under personal familiarity, the general desire was to only share vital information if they already knew the parent, and there was a distinction drawn between at home play dates and outside public play dates. The idea location sharing, which in its original conception is a main feature of the app was well received but with safety concerns. They wanted the ability to location share only within a small locality and with people they had preapproved and was mindful of potential predators. One way of countering this was a rating system, where in you could rate each play date or mom. This has the potential to be catty, but if these were anonymous and some kind of constraints were in place to prevent both hurt feelings and passive aggressive hostility, either through careful moderating or app side involvement this might be a useful addition to a compatibility profile. As for Facebook and other sharing, most moms were okay with app integration.
Key quotes:
I wouldn't want to share a lot of information because you don't really know whose going to use these things. Maybe a background check of some sort would be a good idea. I would share my kids ages, gender, and my interests, my age and education, and maybe my neighborhood.
I would prefer getting to know the person via text a little bit before we meet up in person.
I would not want it to pinpoint my exact location, but it was be nice if t was like "north Napa" or had a park preference feature.
A background check might be helpful if we are dealing with kids so I know people are legit and not on the app for the wrong reasons.
Seeing the location will show parents how close other parents are to them.
Rating system for mom you can have a play date and follow it up with like a survey to say how much you like or don't like the mom or whatever, yeah you're right it is a little catty but it might be a good way to help monitor behavior. That would make me feel better about including men because anyone whose trying to pick up moms could get a bad rating.
App based issues and desires
The desires and concerns regarding the use of an app were divided into three sections: key features wanted, would they use an app, and ways they currently use other apps. The key features wanted were a want ad style page which allowed posting to find other moms seeking play dates, the ability to form groups, the ability to chat and ask questions of each other, park preferences, ability to post and add play dates to calendar, notifications from other moms, suggestions for local areas to go play, a neighborhood watch feature and using non coercive advertising. The neighborhood watch idea was to be able to put out an all points bulletin or mom based "Code Adam" where it would send out notifications to all app users to be on the lookout for security issues, like a missing child or a threatening animal.
Most participants clearly expressed interest in using a friend finding app for making play dates and friendships with other parents. Of the 15 online participants 12 said they would defiantly use and app. The participants currently mostly use Facebook. They use the messenger app, but if it is to long they call each other. The idea of limiting unwanted communication by being able to look at the persons profile and then deciding to make contact was much more appealing than having to see everyone's conversations as happens currently in Facebook groups.
Key quotes:
Find Local moms seeking play dates. So it's made meeting moms easier than approaching at the park. Sometimes no one is doing anything or lack of post to do something.
I definitely have a huge network of mommies and have made great friends in my groups - but since it's a Facebook group it's set up more like forum and I don't always want to hear the same question asked my 78 mommies 7 times a day. I can see the appeal in just learning a bit about someone and then going from there.
After you lost your son at the park and he ran off, it was only because of Friend (other mom we know) that you were even able to find him, so doing like a neighborhood watch or what's that thing they do at the store when your kid gets lost (Code Adam) if you could do that on the app and nay mom at the park with you already could look for your kid. Plus we could warn everyone about the stupid goose that bit my daughter.
Conclusion
The goal for the app is to increase the ability of the user to find trustworthy compatibility parent friends to set up successful play dates. To achieve this goal they need to feel safe with the app and the other users, have reliable compatibility matching, and offer features that other apps, like Facebook doesn't provide.
Key features should include:
- Compatibility profile
- Chat based interaction
- Rating system for parents
- Rating system for play date places
- Park favorites and times
- Code Adam and neighborhood watch security system
- Limited location sharing
- Notifications
- A friend wanted board
- Sex separated "rooms" and other grouping ability
- A well moderated safe space with an environment of compassion, empathy and a lack of judgment.
APPENDIX
Interview Questions
These questions were not answered in a yes or no fashion and were simply used as starting points for a longer conversation.
- Do you find it hard to make friends with other parents?
- Would you like an app or other online matchmaking service to find such friends?
- What kind of relationships would you hope to build with other moms
- How compatible do you think you need to be with other parents to be friends with them?
- Do you have any text based friendships already?
- How often do you try to go on a play date?
- What kind of information would you be willing to share on a parent friend finding app?
- What kind of security do you think you need?
- Wouldyou make use of a compatibility profile, that would include things like personality traits, age, education level, age of children etc, to find friends
- How important is it for you to be compatible with your mom friends, do you think that the experience of parenthood is unifying enough to overcome compatibility issues?
- Would you like to see a location sharing feature in such an app?
- Would you feel comfortable texting at the park to another mom nearby and then meeting up?
- Would you be open to communicating with parents of the opposite sex or would you rather keep your communication limited to those parents of the same sex.
- What Apps do you commonly use for meeting other parents?
- What are some of the things you like about this app?
- How has this app made friend finding easier?
- What are some of the ways that this app has caused you frustration?
- What are some other features you have ideas for?
Notes for interview A- Conversation edited and includes salient points
- Do you find it hard to make friends with other parents?
- come from Russia, but my husband is American. Sometimes I am insecure about my accent and I get frustrated sometimes. I don't really know a lot of other Russian moms and we just moved here two months ago, but I have found some good mom friends. Blank and I have been meeting up every week, plus we have been meeting up a lot too. The Facebook mom group is hit or miss. I hate cattiness though and a lot of the women in the City mom group act like they are still in high school, or all they want to do is hike, I don't have a baby sitter so I don't know how they get out so much without their kids. I'm not just looking for friends but parents whose parenting philosophy I agree with and who actually want to spend time with their kids.
- Would you like an app or other online matchmaking service to find such friends?
- I would like one, and I would use it if it worked.
- What kind of relationships would you hope to build with other moms?
- I want to be able to share the journey of being a mom. It's really hard and society looks down on us and especially stay at home moms. I had a career before I became a mom, I was in insurance and I was good at it. I would like to be friends with a mom who understands that. Motherhood isn't always positive and you need someone to bitch to who won't judge you. You get it, you're honest about the struggles and that's what I am looking for.
- How compatible do you think you need to be with other parents to be friends with them?
- Eh, compatibility is forged not inherent. You don't need to be completely combatable but having some common interests is good.
- Do you have any text based friendships already?
- There's the group text that I'm on in Facebook but they're a clique and it's hard to break into that.
- How often do you try to go on a play date?
- 3-4 times a week
- What kind of information would you be willing to share on a parent friend finding app?
- I wouldn't want to share a lot of information because you don't really know whose going to use these things. Maybe a background check of some sort would be a good idea. I would share my kids ages, gender, and my interests, my age and education, and maybe my neighborhood.
- What kind of security do you think you need?
- After you lost your son at the park and he ran off, it was only because of Friend (other mom we know) that you were even able to find him, so doing like a neighborhood watch or what's that thing they do at the store when your kid gets lost (Code Adam) if you could do that on the app and nay mom at the park with you already could look for your kid. Plus we could warn everyone about the stupid goose that bit my daughter.
- Wouldyou make use of a compatibility profile, that would include things like personality traits, age, education level, age of children etc, to find friends.
- Who doesn't like personality tests, but I think it is trouble if it is to limiting, if you don't try to be friends with a lot of different kinds of people your kid will suffer and you will be a closed minded individual.
- How important is it for you to be compatible with your mom friends, do you think that the experience of parenthood is unifying enough to overcome compatibility issues?
- Being a mom is like being at war, it's like you say, we're war buddies, it doesn't really matter where we come from because we can all bond about being a mom, and it's important to keep your mind open to other people.
- Would you like to see a location sharing feature in such an app?
- It might be cool , but I'd be afraid of predators using the app, but you could use the preapproval like we talked about, maybe the background check.
- Would you feel comfortable texting at the park to another mom nearby and then meeting up?
- Yes this would give me some measure of control maybe I could even spot her on the playground and see how she react to her kids.
- Would you be open to communicating with parents of the opposite sex or would you rather keep your communication limited to those parents of the same sex.
- No I would not, I would be too afraid that dads would try to use the app like a dating or cheating service. There aren't a lot of female only spaces and that one of the things I like about the Facebook group. It's a mom only group and so it's a safe space for women.
- What Apps do you commonly use for meeting other parents?
- I use Big Tent and Facebook, I got invited to the Facebook page by Mom Friend and then she never wants to do anything but hike.
- What are some of the things you like about this app?
- I like to chat and that we can be open by posting on the wall
- How has this app made friend finding easier?
- It helps me talk to other moms
- What are some of the ways that this app has caused you frustration?
- I don't like how Big tent keeps threatening to kick me off their Facebook page if I don't pay them fee. I think it's against the Facebook policy to require someone to keep paying to keep them on your page. Sure only invite mom to mixers if they are paid members but its exploitive to ask them to pay just to talk to each other.
- What are some other features you have ideas for?
- Rating system for mom you can have a play date and follow it up with like a survey to say how much you like or don't like the mom or whatever, yeah you're right it is a little catty but it might be a good way to help monitor behavior. That would make me feel better about including men because anyone whose trying to pick up moms could get a bad rating.