Social Bonding: a strategy to build a trust-centered social media app
Social Bonding: a strategy to build a trust-centered social media app
Users have several trust issues when entering social media contexts, specially when it comes to prove the authenticity of the people they interact with, which directly impacts their will to engage and form meaningful connections.
Through early research, interviews, and competitive analysis, I identified key areas where users feel unsafe on other platforms, and designed a trust-centered user experience.
(project under NDA, some details about the product may have been changed)
Users have several trust issues when entering social media contexts, specially when it comes to prove the authenticity of the people they interact with, which directly impacts their will to engage and form meaningful connections.
Through early research, interviews, and competitive analysis, I identified key areas where users feel unsafe on other platforms, and designed a trust-centered user experience.
(project under NDA, some details about the product may have been changed)
TEAM - 3 Product designers, Developers, Project Manager
MY ROLE - I collaborated in conducting the research for ideating solutions for building a safer user experience
PROJECT SCOPE - Create a safe social media environment for users, and help them to build more meaningful connections
YEAR - 2025
TEAM - 3 Product designers, Developers, Project Manager
MY ROLE - I collaborated in conducting the research for ideating solutions for building a safer user experience
PROJECT SCOPE - Create a safe social media environment for users, and help them to build more meaningful connections
YEAR - 2025
CONDUCTING QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS TO ASSESS THE MAIN TRUST ISSUES
CONDUCTING QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS TO ASSESS THE MAIN TRUST ISSUES
Social media platforms have several problems and painpoints. After conducting some user interviews, these are the key issues we identified:
This app has proved to have a great impact on users, and I could understand this through the user interviews I conducted in the release phase.
The research showed an overall 90% in satisfaction rate, and these are some of the feedback I collected from the interviewed users:
This app has proved to have a great impact on users, and I could understand this through the user interviews I conducted in the release phase.
The research showed an overall 90% in satisfaction rate, and these are some of the feedback I collected from the interviewed users:
"I don’t trust who I’m connecting with on other platforms."
most social medias push followers, and growth, which also leads to spammers, bots, fake accounts…policies and controls against these problems are very limited
"I don’t trust who I’m connecting with on other platforms."
most social medias push followers, and growth, which also leads to spammers, bots, fake accounts…policies and controls against these problems are very limited
“Profile photos create judgment and attract unwanted attention”
profile pitures are publicly visible and drive judgment, initial attraction. Sometimes they also end up in receiving unwanted messages, spamming or in worst cases may lead to catfishing
“Profile photos create judgment and attract unwanted attention”
profile pitures are publicly visible and drive judgment, initial attraction. Sometimes they also end up in receiving unwanted messages, spamming or in worst cases may lead to catfishing
“I don’t know if people are who they say they are.”
Fake locations, fake profiles, fake ages…the control on that is also very limited, and it’s hard to verify the identity of other profiles
“I don’t know if people are who they say they are.”
Fake locations, fake profiles, fake ages…the control on that is also very limited, and it’s hard to verify the identity of other profiles
“I’m tired of random follows and irrelevant suggestions.”
Quantity over quality…every user engage in tons of interactions that are only creating noise and meaningless interactions
“I’m tired of random follows and irrelevant suggestions.”
Quantity over quality…every user engage in tons of interactions that are only creating noise and meaningless interactions
THE RESEARCH LEADING TO THE DESIGN OF A SAFER SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIENCE
THE RESEARCH LEADING TO THE DESIGN OF A SAFER SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIENCE
1/4 - Researching the competition to better understand existing painpoints
Another useful step was analyzing the most popular social media platforms, to better target the main problems highlighted during the first interview.
This helped us to research common weaknesses and pain points, but also existing way they may have to provide safe interactions.
1/4 - Researching the competition to better understand existing painpoints
Another useful step was analyzing the most popular social media platforms, to better target the main problems highlighted during the first interview.
This helped us to research common weaknesses and pain points, but also existing way they may have to provide safe interactions.
2/4 Breaking down the main issues, to define solutions to tackle them
Visualizing the main painpoints on a board has been useful for brainstorming solutions to tackle them.
For everyone of the main painpoints, we broke down some possible solutions, oriented to improve interactions between user and build a safe platform.
2/4 Breaking down the main issues, to define solutions to tackle them
Visualizing the main painpoints on a board has been useful for brainstorming solutions to tackle them.
For everyone of the main painpoints, we broke down some possible solutions, oriented to improve interactions between user and build a safe platform.
The competitor analysis of other social media platforms, helped us gathering insights about their user's interaction flows and work on improvements to add into Social Bonding for creating more secure and meaningful connections.
For every major issue identified in the initial research, we identified possible solutions to implement in our flow.
3/4 Implementing flows to improve safer engagement
The core issue is trust before engagement, so the solutions implemented are meant to reduce uncertainty before the interaction happens.
Some of the applied solutions are:
requesting identity verification before allowing allowing users to start to engage with other people on the platform, under any aspect (friends request, direct messaging, creation of events and meetups...)
hiding the profile picture when viewing profiles of users who are not friends yet
limting the user profile view to matching interest, and showing a percentage of affinity according to interests that two users have in common
3/4 Implementing flows to improve safer engagement
The core issue is trust before engagement, so the solutions implemented are meant to reduce uncertainty before the interaction happens.
Some of the applied solutions are:
requesting identity verification before allowing allowing users to start to engage with other people on the platform, under any aspect (friends request, direct messaging, creation of events and meetups...)
hiding the profile picture when viewing profiles of users who are not friends yet
limting the user profile view to matching interest, and showing a percentage of affinity according to interests that two users have in common
4/4 Cross-department iteration and feedback to validate decisions and integrate them in the product
Because these decisions impacted not only the user experience but also moderation technical feasibility, and business priorities, collaboration with other departments is an important part of the workflow.
One focus area was for example balancing users’ trust with onboarding friction, which required some back and forth between design exploration and stakeholder alignment, to find solutions that secure trust, but don’t create too much friction and drop off.
A solution for solving this was found by providing the user with a very light sign up and onboarding flow, which doesn’t require too many verification steps, and adding some extra security layer the moment when users start engaging with other people.
4/4 Cross-department iteration and feedback to validate decisions and integrate them in the product
Because these decisions impacted not only the user experience but also moderation technical feasibility, and business priorities, collaboration with other departments is an important part of the workflow.
One focus area was for example balancing users’ trust with onboarding friction, which required some back and forth between design exploration and stakeholder alignment, to find solutions that secure trust, but don’t create too much friction and drop off.
A solution for solving this was found by providing the user with a very light sign up and onboarding flow, which doesn’t require too many verification steps, and adding some extra security layer the moment when users start engaging with other people.
When defining user flows where the user interact with other users on the platform, we included some verification steps, to make sure that unverified users can't start interacting/creating activities, as a way to provide more secure interactions
CONCLUSIONS - METRICS WE WILL TRACK AND FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS
CONCLUSIONS - METRICS WE WILL TRACK AND FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS
As the goal is to integrate as much as possible safe interactions between users, we want to start to focus on turning our qualitative insights into measurable outcomes. To validate our trust-driven design, we'll track:
User Verification Completion Rate
How many users complete ID + info verification? This will show friction or trust barriers at onboarding.Successful Mutual Connections
How often do users match based on shared interests, and how many of those connections turn into meaningful interactions (messages/events)?Spam or Abuse Reports Per 1,000 Users
A benchmark for trust & safety effectiveness compared to industry standards.Event Participation & Show-Up Rate
Are verified local meetups resulting in real engagement?Drop-off Points in Onboarding or Interaction Flow
Where do users disengage — is it verification, profile setup, or matching?
This app has proved to have a great impact on users, and I could understand this through the user interviews I conducted in the release phase.
The research showed an overall 90% in satisfaction rate, and these are some of the feedback I collected from the interviewed users:
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENTS
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENTS
This app has proved to have a great impact on users, and I could understand this through the user interviews I conducted in the release phase.
The research showed an overall 90% in satisfaction rate, and these are some of the feedback I collected from the interviewed users:
While our foundational safety features address critical gaps in the social media landscape, we're already looking ahead to enhance both trust and connection quality. Our roadmap includes:
Progressive Verification
Verify user information in several steps (e.g., phone number first, ID later) to reduce onboarding friction while maintaining safety - we are already getting there, as we ask users to verify email/phone number and location during the onboarding, and their ID later onContextual Safety Nudges
Microcopy or UI prompts that guide user behavior (e.g., “You’re about to share your location with a new contact”).Improving Interest Matching
Introducing intent tagging (e.g., “collaborate,” “learn,” “meetup”) to refine how matches are made beyond just shared topics, and build more meaningful connectionsPost-Interaction Feedback Loops
Letting users rate their experience after events or conversations to continuously improve match quality and community safety.
This app has proved to have a great impact on users, and I could understand this through the user interviews I conducted in the release phase.
The research showed an overall 90% in satisfaction rate, and these are some of the feedback I collected from the interviewed users:
Other projects I worked on
Other projects I worked on
Improving the usability of the Greenmatch Solar quote form for increasing leads
Users visiting Greenmatch Solar quote form were sometimes confused by its UX and incurred in some accessibility issues. This is a source of frustration which leads them to abandon the form, causing the loss of potential leads for Greenmatch.
After analysing the accessibility, the overall flow of the form, and conducting some research, I designed a solution to improve the overall user experience and help Greenmatch to increase the percentage of leads.
Improving the usability of the Greenmatch Solar quote form for increasing leads
Users visiting Greenmatch Solar quote form were sometimes confused by its UX and incurred in some accessibility issues. This is a source of frustration which leads them to abandon the form, causing the loss of potential leads for Greenmatch.
After analysing the accessibility, the overall flow of the form, and conducting some research, I designed a solution to improve the overall user experience and help Greenmatch to increase the percentage of leads.
Designing an app that helps online resellers to cut listing creation time by 85%
Online resellers find it hard and time consuming to list a product. They usually sell item for a suitable price, that generates low profits or sometimes losses. Most of the times they give up and just give away their items for free or throw them away.
I analyzed the situation and the needs of online resellers, to design an app that helps them to speed up the workflow, easily track the best price to sell an item and generate more revenue from their sales.
Designing an app that helps online resellers to cut listing creation time by 85%
Online resellers find it hard and time consuming to list a product. They usually sell item for a suitable price, that generates low profits or sometimes losses. Most of the times they give up and just give away their items for free or throw them away.
I analyzed the situation and the needs of online resellers, to design an app that helps them to speed up the workflow, easily track the best price to sell an item and generate more revenue from their sales.
Let’s connect
Let’s connect
Reach out on my social media accounts! I share insights about UX psychology and product
features 🧠
Reach out on my social media accounts! I share insights about UX psychology and product
features 🧠
Riccardo Russiano