Life "Modes" in Social Media

Current social media products such as Facebook and Twitter have not sufficiently addressed how to help users organize people and content streams across different areas of their lives. We conducted a qualitative design research study to explore how we might best leverage natural models of social organization to improve experiences of social media. We found that participants organize their social worlds based on life 'modes', i.e., family, work and social. They strategically use communication technologies to manage intimacy levels within these modes, and levels of permeability through the boundaries between these modes. Mobile communication in particular enabled participants to aggregate and share content dynamically across life modes. While exploring problems with managing their social media streams, people showed a strong need for focused sharing the ability to share content only with appropriate audiences within certain areas of life.