Reward schedules in HotOrNot
Jim is so smart
Jim Young, a co-founder of HotOrNot, commented on the recent blog I wrote on reward schedules. It’s so insightful that I wanted to highlight it.
Jim writes:
Good insights- you nailed this one
on the head. With regards to HOTorNOT, the primary reward the next
photo to be rated. The post-rating screen communicates the community
aspect- "what others thought", "last checked their score X minutes
ago".You can also consider the rewards schedule to be variable ratio,
since the next person isn’t guaranteed to be hot. :) If you have ever
played with any of the HoN clones that only show attractive people all
the time, you will find the experience is less addictive.
The second paragraph is incredibly interesting. I think a typical developer building a HoN clone might think that rewarding the user with the hottest matches constantly gives the best experience, because they look at HoN as a goal-driven website rather than an entertainment experience.
HotOrNot as a functional app
If you think about HotOrNot from a completely functional standpoint, then MATCHING RESULTS are the key driver. The goal is to present the user with hot people, as to reward them as quickly as possible. The best possible experience is to have the user show up, burn a couple pageviews looking at the "best" people, and then leave the site.
HotOrNot as an experience
But if you think of HotOrNot from a user engagement standpoint, then it’s not the matching results that are key, but rather TOTAL # of RESULTS or in other terms, more pageviews = better. This also, of course, aligns with the goal of advertising revenues.
In that case, then you want to throw some mediocre-looking folks in with the good ones, to keep people guessing and clicking away. Instead of showing 10 super-attractive people in a row, you spread them randomly across 50 profile pictures, thus increasing your engagement by 5X.
The entire switch here is to think of these websites not as collections of features or products, but rather manufactured experiences that are designed to be compelling wastes of peoples’ time ;-)
Press button to WIN
The entire conflict between engagement and functional usability can be encapsulated by the following statement (which I’m stealing from someone, I don’t remember who):
If you handed a game over to usability folks, they’d make a big red button that said, "Press button to WIN"
That is, if you optimize for helping people accomplish a task as quickly as possible, you start missing out on the entire path of accomplishing the goal, which is what drives engagement. Maybe where I should reference the cheesy self-help quotation: "Life is a journey, not a destination"
PS. Get new updates/analysis on tech and startupsI write a high-quality, weekly newsletter covering what's happening in Silicon Valley, focused on startups, marketing, and mobile.
Views expressed in âcontentâ (including posts, podcasts, videos) linked on this website or posted in social media and other platforms (collectively, âcontent distribution outletsâ) are my own and are not the views of AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (âa16zâ) or its respective affiliates. AH Capital Management is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply any special skill or training. The posts are not directed to any investors or potential investors, and do not constitute an offer to sell -- or a solicitation of an offer to buy -- any securities, and may not be used or relied upon in evaluating the merits of any investment.
The content should not be construed as or relied upon in any manner as investment, legal, tax, or other advice. You should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax, and other related matters concerning any investment. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Any charts provided here are for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, I have not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. The content speaks only as of the date indicated.
Under no circumstances should any posts or other information provided on this website -- or on associated content distribution outlets -- be construed as an offer soliciting the purchase or sale of any security or interest in any pooled investment vehicle sponsored, discussed, or mentioned by a16z personnel. Nor should it be construed as an offer to provide investment advisory services; an offer to invest in an a16z-managed pooled investment vehicle will be made separately and only by means of the confidential offering documents of the specific pooled investment vehicles -- which should be read in their entirety, and only to those who, among other requirements, meet certain qualifications under federal securities laws. Such investors, defined as accredited investors and qualified purchasers, are generally deemed capable of evaluating the merits and risks of prospective investments and financial matters. There can be no assurances that a16zâs investment objectives will be achieved or investment strategies will be successful. Any investment in a vehicle managed by a16z involves a high degree of risk including the risk that the entire amount invested is lost. Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by a16z is available at https://a16z.com/investments/. Excluded from this list are investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets. Past results of Andreessen Horowitzâs investments, pooled investment vehicles, or investment strategies are not necessarily indicative of future results. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.
