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In recent years, social media platforms have become breeding grounds for performative activism and superficial impact. We challenged this unintended consequence of social media by bringing the impact of traditional activism into an online experience while still offering a space to share and engage in content. Thus came Amplify, a new social media platform that engages individuals with content that actually drives them to make a measurable difference - minus the performativity.
Scope
User Experience
User Research
Usability Testing
Interface Design
The rise of social media has boosted performative activism in online spaces, where users and organizations often engage in superficial actions for personal or branding purposes.
To better understand how performative activism grows on social media, we reviewed existing UXR on the topic. We found that the behavior is mostly driven through the content interaction features on every platform - likes, shares, retweets, etc.
Our research found that traditional social media platforms prioritize follower engagement through shares, likes, and comments which, in the activism context, motivates users to like and share content solely to "fit in". Amplify flips this content model by focusing on collective impact instead of individuals' interactions, incentivizing users to work together for measurable, reputable goals like signing a petition or funding a relief fund.
The content feed simplifies discovering, following, and advocating for causes. Whether you engage by boosting an issue through likes and comments or signing a petition, every content interaction feature enables individuals to generate measurable impact. Users are then incentivized to continue engaging with the app after seeing the collective impacts of the causes they helped support.
Our research found that the saturation of disheartening issues shared online made users feel like their online impacts were insignificant. The Explore page addresses this by highlighting users' real-world impact through personalized cards, showcasing the positive impact of their signed petitions, donations, and advocated legislation. These cards enable users to join the conversation, comment on recent successes, and celebrate collective impact.
Our unique posting experience focuses on meaningful engagement by categorizing content by cause to amplify impactful opportunities rather than individual accounts. We categorize content by having users select the category their cause falls under and provide them with a CTA button that can lead to petitions, webinars, etc. to generate measurable impact.
