Helping GetHelp.

This application is very similar to the one my Facebook App Group created – Looking-For. To be frank, their application seems much more aesthetically appealing than ours, so I shall not comment on the graphics or I’ll be indirectly hurting someone.

The basic idea of GetHelp and Looking-For is pretty similar: Post a distress message on Facebook and hopefully get friends to help you or refer a friend who might be able to help you. The very nature of such applications dictates that users are free to post whatever they can think of. I am not too sure if this problem can be avoided, or rather, is this a problem at all. While I am for the idea of allowing users too “Add more details” such as the deadline, time and description, it would be better to have this section code in AJAX such that it appears after the user clicks a button.

When the user first adds the application, he should only see one textbox with a submit button, as well as a call to action like “Need help with something? Post it here: {textbox}”, exactly like Rumour Has It. Offering the user too many options confuses the user. By deliberately limiting the number of options given to new users, users are indirectly “forced” to familiarize themselves with the key features necessary to make the application work. This same idea is used in Mafia Wars too - when a new player adds the application, they are only allowed to perform one job and right after that job, users are prompted to buy a weapon which enables them to perform a different job. All users are “forced” to learn the game in this way, hence there is no need for a tutorial on how to use the application.

Bottomline: Less Clutter.