How to add social elements to tool apps?

The key to adding social elements to tool -type products is to find the intersection between tools and social interaction and to achieve the fusion of tools and principles.

1. Tool products can add social elements in this way

1. Separately: Tool products and social products

Tool products , as the name suggests, are mainly tool-based, with the core feature being “use”, which means practicality. They can help users query data (data query products), help users memorize words (English word products), help users find their destination (map products), and help users reach their destination (taxi products). These are typical tool products.

At the same time, tool-type products connect not only people and objects, but also people and people. For example, word apps are all about connecting people and things, and users only need to use the app to achieve the goal of memorizing words. However, taxi-hailing products, although they appear to connect people and cars, actually connect people with people, users and drivers, but there is no social relationship between these people. Whether it is a driver or a car , in the eyes of passengers, it is actually a tool to achieve a goal.

Social products are bound to be products that connect people. They have the concepts of community , communication, and interaction. The core is "communication". Users' demand for social interaction is nothing more than the desire to interact, get to know more people, gain more recognition through sharing, and so on. Social interaction requires people, and a group of people. This is the prerequisite. Then, based on this group of people, we provide them with a channel for communication, allowing them to interact and create social value for each other.

My major in college was philosophy, so I used two philosophical concepts to represent tool products and social products respectively (this may not be accurate, and I welcome your corrections).

Tool products are equivalent to "tools". The physical world is called tools, and tools tend to be used, referring to specific, material things. In other words, I will use something only if it is useful to my study, work, and life. It is equivalent to my tool. Knowledge can be a tool, and furniture can be a tool. Social products are equivalent to "Tao". The metaphysical is called Tao, and Tao tends to be abstract, empty, and spiritual. For example, social status and honor in reality, showing off and likes in the circle of friends , the number of fans and followers on social platforms, etc., it is equivalent to my spiritual appetite, which can satisfy my spiritual and mental needs, etc.

2. Combined: Tool products and social products

Since we want to add social elements to tool products, we cannot separate the "tool" and the "social". If we simply add a social product to the tool without considering the connection between the two, then why put them together! So what we need to think about is how to combine these two elements.

There may be many ideas on how to combine them. I would like to propose one of my ideas, which is to find the combination point of tool attributes and social attributes, that is, the combination point of "instrument" and "Tao". So where is this combination point? My personal understanding is this:

(1) Think about and find out what kind of social value the tool can bring to users (this social value includes both online and offline value). This social value is the intersection between "tool" and "Tao";

(2) Think about and find out what kind of instrumental value social networking can bring to the product. This instrumental value is the junction between "Tao" and "Qi".

That is to say, in the instrumental element, the meaning of "Qi" is extended to "Tao", thus connecting to social value, and then in the social element, the meaning of "Tao" is extended to "Qi", thus connecting to instrumental value.

When designing tool attributes, without weakening the "tool", we can naturally consider the "Tao", consider the social value that this tool brings to users (such as spiritual satisfaction, sense of honor, etc.), and find ways to incorporate this point. For example, if I use a tool to accomplish something (memorize 10,000 words), I can show off and gain recognition from my friends. What I have learned can improve my daily life or learning skills, and can also increase my psychological self-confidence, social identity, etc.

When designing social attributes, without weakening the "Tao", we can naturally consider the "instrument", consider what specific practical benefits this social platform can bring to users, etc. For example, in English products, the social elements can have ranking displays and daily word check-in displays. Such displays will have a motivating effect on users, making them naturally consider that they also need to work harder. Then it comes back to the "instrument". I should use this "instrument" more and better to gain more "Tao"; for example, I can meet more seniors or friends in the social elements and learn from them, which is also helpful for the growth of my personal "instrument".

This is my personal thinking on the basic concept of how to add social elements to tool-type products. Let me give you a simple example to illustrate this concept.

2. Let’s take a simple example to illustrate

Based on the concept of Didi Taxi , I envisioned a product called " Didi Foreign Language". This product mainly has tool attributes (helping users practice speaking), and then adds social elements (such as communication and interaction in small language circles, etc.). Here are some of my specific ideas: (Because the concept of Didi Taxi is already well known to everyone, I will try to be concise when explaining it below, and some concepts will be briefly mentioned.)

1. Assume the pain point

Many users who are learning foreign languages ​​find it difficult to find an effective way to learn spoken English, and their progress is not obvious. They are eager to find a way to quickly improve their spoken English skills.

2. Solution

If you want to improve your spoken English, you must move your mouth more and communicate more with people who speak the foreign language well, especially with people who are native speakers of the foreign language and have authentic pronunciation. However, it is not easy for ordinary users to find suitable people to communicate with, so we need to help these users find friends who can communicate with them in foreign languages ​​simply and quickly. So we help users quickly find friends who can communicate with them in foreign languages ​​by "matching people who need to learn oral English with people who provide oral communication". (Corresponding to Didi Taxi, in fact, people who learn foreign languages ​​are those who need to take a taxi, and people who are good at speaking foreign languages ​​are the drivers).

3. Core requirements

People who want to learn a foreign language can always find someone who is willing to communicate with him in spoken foreign languages ​​(international students, foreigners, people who are good at foreign languages) to improve their speaking skills, but they need to pay some money; people who are good at spoken foreign languages ​​(international students, foreigners, other people who are good at spoken foreign languages) can receive part-time private jobs teaching spoken foreign languages ​​through the platform at any time to earn some extra money.

4. User roles

Users who need to improve their spoken English (students) + users who are good at speaking foreign languages ​​(instructors or teachers). (Users who need to improve their spoken English can obtain the ability to improve their spoken English by paying; users who are good at speaking foreign languages ​​can get monetary rewards by paying their time, and some foreigners can also learn Chinese)

5. Tool side

Users register as students and publish their needs (language, teacher requirements, price, time, topics they want to talk about, etc.);

Users register to become lecturers or teachers (need to apply for certification to obtain teaching qualifications), and give their own requirements and qualifications (language, oral level, price requirements, time requirements, topics of expertise, etc.).

The student places a demand order - the system matches the student's demand with the teacher's demand conditions - the teacher receives an order that meets the conditions - conducts oral communication - ends the communication - receives payment and makes an evaluation.

PS: There may be issues where students and teachers communicate privately without going through the platform, but since it is still in the idea stage, I have not considered it in depth. What I can think of for now is that if both parties connect through the platform, there will be better guarantees in terms of security and down payment for both students and teachers. At the same time, due to the advantages of the platform, the price advantage can be brought into play. In addition, for students, they can contact more different teachers and discuss different topics through the platform. Moreover, for both parties, time is free, controllable, and scattered. It does not require relatively concentrated time like other platforms or offline learning, and has a high degree of freedom.

6. Tools + Social

The above is actually the tool attribute of the product "Didi Foreign Language", which can help users quickly improve their spoken English level, which belongs to the category of "tool". We can see that currently this tool side only realizes basic tool needs, and the main problems it brings are: users leave after using it and cannot form stickiness, users cannot gain a sense of identity or accomplishment on the platform, users cannot gain their own circle of friends or like-minded learning partners on the platform, etc. These problems require social elements to solve, which is the problem of "Tao", so it is necessary to further extend "Tao" beyond "Qi" to solve these problems.

So how should we add social elements at this time? According to the previous concept, we now need to find the connection point, and this connection point is the social value that the tool can bring to users. In fact, from the students' perspective, the social value brought by oral communication tools is most directly reflected in reality, which is to improve users' spoken English, thereby improving their personal ability, social identity, self-confidence, professional skills, etc. In other words, what we need to do now is to find a way to transform these real-life benefits into our platform and present them in the form of social products. The value generated by these social products can in turn promote the use of tools, so that the value of the tools can be better utilized.

(1) For example, if we want to demonstrate the social value of students’ sense of social identity or self-confidence, we can set up an activity section, frequently hold online oral competitions for students, set up competition rewards and rankings. For outstanding students, the ranking is equivalent to an honor, which can bring them more spiritual value. At the same time, it can also encourage more users to improve their spoken language skills, which in turn will increase the frequency of users using the tool, extending from "Tao" to "Qi".

(2) For example, on the tool side, teachers can receive positive reviews and honors such as gold medal teachers by continuously teaching. If this honor is just an honor in itself and is not supported by social functions, then it is just a display and a psychological satisfaction. And if this honor is extended to the social field, adding rankings of high-quality teachers, high-quality language partners, etc., then this honor will not only bring about the improvement of "Tao", but can also bring more orders to teachers on the tool side. This is actually an extension from "instrument" to "Tao", and "Tao" in turn feeds back to "instrument".

(3) For example, by introducing the concept of circles, establishing some "small language" circles, and helping these circles to promote some online and offline activities, this is to satisfy the user's social value in making friends. (For example, Gudong has such a concept and has many running circles)

PS: This case is just a simple assumption of mine, just to better explain the problem. As for the feasibility of this case, etc., I have not thought about it very deeply, so please forgive me.

To sum up, if we want to add social elements to tool products, we must find a way to find the combination of "tools" and "social", that is, the combination of "tools" and "Tao". And this connection point refers to: what kind of social value this tool can bring to users. Find this social value, then find a way to implement it into a specific product form and better integrate it with the tool product. This is my understanding of one way to add social elements to tool products. Thanks!