"My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

Document Title

"My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

Document Information

• Subject Area: Social Media Design, Neurodiversity, Participatory Design
• Keywords: Social Media, Autistic Adults, Autism Sociality, Autism Culture, Participatory Design, Emotional Expression, Design Research, User Experience, Neurodiversity, Digital Humanities

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  • Mainstream social media platforms are primarily designed based on the social and emotional expression needs of "neurotypical" users (non-autistic individuals), neglecting the specific needs of autistic adults.
  • Autistic adults face various challenges in using social media, including emotional expression, sensory overload, uncertainty about audience scope, and content relevance and quality.

• Importance of the Issue:

  • Autistic adults often experience discomfort or distress on social media. In a modern society built on internet connectivity, social designs tailored to their needs can alleviate feelings of isolation and improve quality of life.
  • This research offers a new perspective on inclusive design while challenging mainstream assumptions about "normal" social interactions.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • To reexamine social media design from a neurodiversity perspective, moving away from traditional autism definitions based on "deficits."
  • Existing studies often focus on autistic children and adolescents or evaluate the usability of current social media systems, but there is a lack of design research specifically targeting autistic adults.

Solution

• Proposed Methods or Solutions:

  • Using participatory design methods, collaborating with 20 autistic adults through three rounds of design workshops to explore their social media experiences and co-design ideal social media features.
  • The study introduces "questionable concepts" and design cards to stimulate creativity, encouraging participants to describe current issues, reflect on social behaviors, and imagine solutions.

• Innovative Aspects:

  • The first comprehensive study using participatory design to focus on whether social media is suitable for autistic adults, with autistic adults themselves defining the direction of ideal features.
  • Employing the perspective of "autistic sociality" to challenge traditional design concepts based on neurotypical user needs, emphasizing the value of differences.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  • Phase 1: Describe current challenges in using social media.
  • Phase 2: Guide participants to reflect on existing issues.
  • Phase 3: Use tools like design cards to inspire creativity and design new features.
  • Analysis Method: Reflexive thematic analysis to organize conversation content, identify challenges, and corresponding solutions.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Results:

  1. Identified seven major challenges faced by autistic adults in using social media:
     • Overlooked interest-based social interactions
     • Emotional and tonal expression
     • Content quality: irrelevant or harmful information
     • Sensory overload
     • Uncertainty about audience scope
     • Compulsion to use platforms
     • Understanding and conveying intent and meaning
  2. Proposed 35 feature design concepts, such as:
     • Providing interest-based connection recommendation features.
     • Offering personalized explanations and alternative options for emojis.
     • Introducing tools for managing time or tone (e.g., "social media offline reply" feature).
  3. Highlighted autistic adults' desire for control in social media design, including dimensions like content, audience, and time management.
  4. Design recommendations include: stronger content filters, more detailed privacy settings, customized algorithm recommendations, diverse expression tools, and time management features.

• Comparison with Existing Solutions and Advantages:

  • Current mainstream platforms overly focus on neurotypical user patterns, lacking support for the unique sociality and needs of autistic individuals.
  • The features envisioned by participants emphasize transparency, control, and interest-based interactions, better accommodating a wide range of individualized needs compared to existing features.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Co-designing with participants revealed innovative features that meet the needs of autistic adults, demonstrating that addressing these needs can enhance mainstream platform design principles beyond simple "inclusivity."

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations: Small participant sample, limiting generalizability; primarily focused on autistic adults in Western social contexts, lacking cross-cultural applicability.
  • Future Directions:
    • Expanding to global, multilingual social media application scenarios.
    • Exploring how design recommendations can be adapted for other marginalized user groups to develop universally inclusive solutions.

Design Recommendations

1. Support interest-based social interactions and enhance user discovery mechanisms based on shared interests.
2. Provide more granular content management options, starting with emotional and tonal filtering, to reduce exposure to "negative content."
3. Enhance the intuitiveness of privacy and audience control, offering simplified operations for complex privacy settings.
4. Offer diverse expression tools to help users manage tone and improve clarity of expression.
5. Emphasize user time management features in design, introducing customizable reminders and "social clock-out" functions to reduce compulsive usage.