Spotify: A Social Connection

Spotify: A Social Connection

Think mixtapes from the ‘90s, now available on Spotify.

My Role

When designing an additional Spotify feature as a personal project, I was responsible for the following:

  • Conducting and analyzing user interviews;

  • Storyboarding big-picture ideas;

  • A/B testing;

  • Wireframing;

  • Usability testing.

Why add a Spotify social feature?

People value personal connections created through music, and AI can’t replace them no matter how personal a bot might look. Spotify has provided “personalized” through many existing features, but they have yet to truly capture personal.

RESEARCH

RESEARCH

Music: The Social Connection

Music and social connection go hand-in-hand — it has been that way for hundreds of years, and it does not appear to be changing anytime soon.

“Listening to music and singing together has been shown in several studies to directly impact neurochemicals in the brain, many of which play a role in closeness and connection..”

— Jill Suttie
(Berkley)

“Music is often functional because it is something that can promote human well-being by facilitating human contact, human meaning, and human imagination of possibilities.”

— J. Schulkin and G.B. Raglan (National Library of Medicine)

“Taste in music varies considerably, but whatever people enjoy listening to, they often report an emotional response that has a touch of the physical to it.”

— Lydia Denworth
(Psychology Today)

Why do people connect?

People value connection over music, but streaming services are mostly used for personal use. How can we capture the value of real-world connections and bring it to Spotify?

  • A constant topic of conversation for all music listeners is what’s new

  • People tend not to like AI-generated playlists and trust their communities’ recommendations more than a streaming service

  • You can find a deeper connection with your friends by knowing the music they’ve recommended for you, and the story behind the songs

Find new music

  • People like to feel accepted, and that is also true when it comes to their music taste — finding a judgment-free community is important

  • Regardless of anything else in your life, if you have a deep love or passion for the same artist or genre of music, you can connect with someone over it

  • Music communities can be a sort of family for those defined as “superfans”

Find like-minded people

The Research Outcome

People find value in connecting over music — it builds a bond that nothing else can replace. However, as important as this is to people, there is no way to connect socially in the number one way users listen to music — streaming services.

ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS

Current Service Blueprint

Based on what Spotify currently offers, there is a clear gap in how Spotify helps user socially experiences music.

  1. Users’ research has little to do with Spotify — users rely on friends, artists, and social media.

  2. Finding new music is cyclical — AI user-generated content, the primary ongoing discover feature, is not valued by users.

Meet the Spotify Users

Spotify’s 5 unique personas are based on a two-phased research study focused on:

  • Different ages, incomes, family types, lifestyles, and music cultures

  • Context of how users listen to music.

The “ New” Users

In deepening these personas, the research focus was on how music streamers use music as a means to build personal connections.

How to Help Users

A clear need for all users, regardless of persona, is the need for discovering new music.

However, there were a couple of different ways to target that need.

  • People value insights and music recommendations from those who are top listeners of similar artists and genres — if they have so much in common and already like similar music, there’s a good chance there’s a lot of value to be taken from a group discussion.

  • People find others that who know them well tend to offer the best recommendations. Friends are always looking to each other for insights into new music, so why not make it easier to find that within Spotify?

SOLUTION

SOLUTION

Testing with Sketches

Usability testing was done with low-fidelity sketches to ensure not only that the best solution was designed, but it was designed in a way that made sense to users.

Weekly Discussion

  • NPS average of 10 when asked how likely the user is to use the feature

  • Split feedback on task flow — configure settings vs access playlist first

Pop-up Playlist

  • NPS average of 6 when asked how likely the user is to use the feature

  • NPS average of 1.5 when asked how likely the user is to be involved in the chat

Designing Spotify Mixtapes

After completing usability A/B testing, there were two key takeaways:

  1. Users want a weekly pop-up playlist based on friends and similar Spotify users as a way to personally connect with others

  2. Users want the ability to control who is included in their friend-based playlists

Incorporating Spotify’s Design System

It is key to keep consistent with the existing Spotify design. Therefore, I created a design system that aligned with Spotify’s and applied it to the finalized wireframes.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

THE FINAL PRODUCT

Spotify Mixtapes

A personal playlist curated for users based on their friends and similar users’ recent listening habits for the week, whichever the user decides to include.

Shuffle through the designs

  • To align with Spotify’s design, a pop-up will announce Spotify Mixtapes with a walk-through to follow.

    To avoid future frustration from users, there is no ‘Dismiss’ button on the first screen to ensure the user must click to see the setup.

  • A breadcrumb path is provided to ensure that all users know how to enable the new feature whenever they are ready. Those ready to make the updates right away can click the notable CTA.

    There is also now an exit available via ‘Dismiss’.

  • Usability testing proved that, although users understand Spotify’s settings, new actions might not be obvious to the user.

    Due to a high failure rate when users did not have a walk-through, we’ve added continued instruction.

  • A final slide gives users the proper feedback that the walk-through and onboarding are complete. This comes from direct user feedback during usability testing.

  • The existing Spotify homepage serves it’s purpose well, so not much changes — as a new feature Spotify Mixtapes will stay at the top of the content hierarchy.

    A notable new feature, though, is a “social” icon that signifies the playlist is based on social content and not Spotify-curated content.

  • The key changes in the playlist again tie back to the social aspect of the feature. Spotify’s playlists are well-learned by users, so the key functionality doesn’t change. However, users can gain access to insights on whose music is included.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

Personable versus Productive

As hard as technology tries, it cannot fully replace human connection. That was a key finding during the research stage and is a potential risk with the new Spotify Mixtapes feature.

However, I’ve also found that if a social feature can ease frustration and reduce the time spent finding new music, it can still succeed. I believe Spotify Mixtapes will do just that.

Continuing with Personality

To keep the musical connection between people alive in the streaming-based world we live in today, Spotify social needs to balance being truly personal and simplifying the user experience.

User control — since the AI can’t get it right, why not let the user provide more direction to feel more fulfilled with the output?

Artist involvement — users trust the artists they know and love, so how can we get them to socialize with those same users?