Catalyst Group Design Usability Research Confirms RSS, Comments Functions, Navigation Fail To Meet Standard Intuitive-Use Thresholds 

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK – Tuesday, July 12, 2005.  Today, Catalyst Group Design released the results of a usability study conducted on June 29-July 1.  The study – conducted with regular users of the Internet who had no, or limited, experience with blogs – revealed that the core functions, terminology and habits associated with reading a blog are largely out of reach for mainstream audiences.  It’s been documented that, despite the explosion of blogs and their growing influence on culture, politics, media, advertising and marketing, most people have not read or written one.*  Catalyst’s test uncovers some of the design-related barriers for why this might be true from the perspective of reading blogs. 

Top-Line Results

A full report on Catalyst’s usability research is available at:

http://www.catalystgroupdesign.com/cofactors/upload/Blog_usability_report.pdf 

In order to test the direction that blogs are heading – rather than where they have been historically – Catalyst probed usage and navigation of one of BusinessWeek’s five new blogs, “Well Spent” (http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/wellspent/).  Catalyst judged this to be an example of a newer, “mainstream” type of media blog which keeps all the core functionality associated with the medium, but folds it into a larger, well-known and branded website (more explanation of this choice can be found in Methodology, below).  Highlights of the study include:

• No participant understood the mechanisms associated with RSS/subscribing to a blog – not even the minority familiar with the term “RSS."
• Few participants even recognized that they were on an actual blog – and once they did, had a very different reaction to the information presented.
• A minority of participants understood how to navigate within the blog itself – with most being confused by areas for recent posts, categories, trackbacks and even the comments and archives functions.

Significance of the Findings

“It’s no secret that everyone is wondering whether or not blogs will live up to their hype,” said Nick Gould, CEO of Catalyst Group Design.  “We decided to look at the question from a usability perspective:  how well do people who know a lot about the Internet really understand what they are supposed to do when reading a blog?”

Catalyst’s conclusions:  broad comprehension is fairly far away – and better design and terminology are essential.  All those tested were optimistic about blogs following the test, with many expressing interest or enthusiasm for what had been a new experience.  However, few felt that the presentation of functionality and navigation was intuitive, and many wondered why more effort had not been put into education. 

Methodology Overview

Catalyst conducted usability testing on a diverse group of participants with significant Internet experience but limited-to-no familiarity with blogs and blogging.  Education, income level, ethnicity and gender all varied – as did profession (people ranged from high-level Internet executives to teachers to publicists to IT professionals to recruiters). 

The BusinessWeek blog was selected after a review of the top 100 blogs as ranked by Technorati (http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs/) as well as a variety of other web logs.  Ultimately, Catalyst chose “Well Spent” for both its content and its basic user-interface (UI) design.  In terms of content, it contains a type of information – personal finance posts – that are relevant to almost any American adult.  In terms of UI, it combines standard mainstream web navigation to various BusinessWeek sections with core blog features including:

• RSS subscription mechanisms (XML buttons)
• Main page with both full and truncated postings
• Landing pages with full postings and comment mechanisms
• Previously posted comments
• Recent posts
• Trackback capabilities and recent trackbacks
• Archives
• Recent comment logs
• Author photos
• Author contact information

About Catalyst Group Design

Founded in 1998, Catalyst Group Design (www.catalystgroupdesign.com) improves websites and other interfaces through insights into and testing of key audience behavior. The firm specializes in user-centered research and design that extends from core interface architecture into visual design, marketing and branding strategy, and usability-related communications planning. This whole-business approach anchors relationships with clients like Boeing, Ford, iVillage, Hearst Magazines, Sirius Satellite Radio, About and JP Morgan Chase.

Contact:

Nick Gould, CEO

Catalyst Group Design

212-243-7777 x203

nick@catalystnyc.com

*According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 62% of Americans still don’t know what a blog is. (http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/144/report_display.asp)

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