Design Analysis Last.fm

I am a huge fan of music. If I’m ever just browsing on the internet when it’s not school related, there is a 90% chance that what I’m doing is music related. So, the social media service I chose to check out was Last.fm. It’s a service that is wholly about music and finding out new bands, so I think it’s safe to say that the community it serves would be people like me who are always on the look out for new music as well as music lovers in general.
Signing up for the account is free and has no age restrictions that I could see. Since this service is all about music and the users musical taste, there is little room for personal info other than the basics like age, location, and general interests.
Essentially, the site is an online “radio” type of site with thousands of artist profiles and songs available for streaming. After signing up, you have to install the the “scrobbler” gizmo. This keeps track of what you listen to by using your computer’s music player and sends that information (track title, artist, album, genre etc.) to Last.fm, Also, there is the “iScrobbler” application that links to your iPod and updates your music play info each time you plug the iPod into your computer.
I think the only real “goal” of the users on Last.fm is to find new music/bands. However, the more music you listen to, the more information Last.fm receives about your tastes, and eventually it will start recommending artists that it thinks you will like based on what you have “scrobbled.” I listen to music pretty much any time of day that I’m not interacting with people, so it only took a couple of days before I was getting recommended to things like new albums coming out by artists I’ve recently been listening to and where/if I can purchase them online.


I’m not exactly sure what it takes to be “socially successful” in Last.fm since it’s mainly just about you and your tastes. Perhaps it’s about having a lot of music scrobbled in order for Last.fm to know your tastes better, which in turn will help it to recommend you more artists/genres/concerts etc. There are basic services like adding friends, leaving comments and messages (text only). You are also able to see what are listening to (live) or have listened to already, including how many times they have listened to that particular track/artist. It also shows you how “compatible” your music tastes are with other people and points out some artists that you both listen to. From there, the real “social” aspect comes in. Everyone knows word-of-mouth is the best type of advertising, so what better way to find out about new music than by talking with others that have similar tastes as you? Much like how I was finding out about bands on Soulseek, Last.fm provides the same type of interaction focused on music, except with much more information about the artists, including biographies, full tracks, sample tracks, videos, and has artist profiles.

I think that services like Last.fm are the future of digital social networking. Facebook and Myspace are much more broad and in some cases too general. These types of sites are basically email, but with pictures and videos. They are great for what they provide, keeping in contact with others, but often times they have far too much advertisements and spam. If more services that are focused start popping up, then I think they can be successful in their own way. I would almost compare it to how magazines are particular toward a specific subject or market. As well, I think the idea of your profile, or the information on your profile, being updated constantly with things you like (while doing minimal work on the users’ part) could have vast possibilities. I can see some subjects not being all that popular, but if only a few people are thoroughly and regularly participating, then that’s better than having a lot people and no focused idea. As long as the design of the service is relatively simple (clean and organized) and has some sort of focused theme for people to bond over and talk about, then I think that is where the future of Social Networking is really going. Last.fm is an awesome example because in the end, the user is benefiting.

S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n g

I think my start in Social Media was about ten years ago with the use of AIM, and I now mainly use Facebook. If AIM (AOL Instant Messanger) doesn’t count, then I believe my first “service” to sign up for was Myspace in 2001 or 2002, I forget now. I still use AIM and my girlfriend (at the time) made me a Facebook a couple years ago. The Myspace account is now mainly used to check out bands/music related stuff but I still use it a couple times a month. It gets much less attention than my Facebook, which is interesting because at first, I didn’t like Facebook nearly as much. I think I use the Myspace less because it has a lot of cluttered stuff and lags when loading people’s profiles. Although, I don’t blame Myspace for this, I blame all the people who think they can design a cool custom profile but just end up filling it with every little bell and whistle that they can. I am not quite sure if filesharing services count, but if they do then I also had Napster, KaZaA and Soulseek around the same time. Soulseek was the last file sharing service I used and was the best. The main part of KaZaA that was “social” was the ability to chat with other users. Soulseek had this simple text feature as well except it had chat rooms with different topics, most of which were genres of music, as well as movies. For example, there would be different rooms for rock, metal, indie, hip-hop, and countless subgenres. I came across a lot of good bands this way because users were able to recommend artists to check out.

Design Questions

1. Identify 3 components in the interface or world provide you with TEXT-based information. How are they designed and how do you interact with them?

a. IM/chat is not the best design because it’s hard to tell who is saying what, especially when the avatars stand closely:

b. General information like signs/directions etc.:

c. Descriptions of actions you can perform:


2. Identify 3 components in the interface or world provide you with NON-TEXT-based information. How are they designed and how do you interact with them?

a. Yellow glow on items that I can click/interact with like this sofa:

b. Main menu icons to click on such as home, map, events, etc.:

c. As well, instead of entering any text for your mood, they have a selection of Emoticons:


3. Give 3 examples of how color, shape, contrast, position, motion, or sound function in the world or interface design?

a. One thing I noticed was the lack of shadows on the avatars but everything else seems to cast a shadow:

b. The sound is mainly a horrible repeating 10-second melody that sounds far too happy. This alone makes me never want to participate again. c. Another aspect about the visual design I noticed is how the world itself has some depth and is 3D but the avatars seem flat and 2D:


4. How are various tasks and goals communicated to you at the start? How does this evolve as you gain more experience? Name a few ways that you are encouraged to complete tasks and attain goals.

a. At the start it seems like the purpose is to just get money so you can buy “cool” things for your apartment. This evolves as you are encouraged to share the new things with your neighbors and friends.



5. Which features of your selected world contribute to an immersive feeling (like you are really there) (reading: HOH-Immersion) and which features break it?

a. For me, I think that the only real feature that makes it immersive would be the IM/chat aspect of it all, if only because it is in real-time. However, at the same time, the fact that your avatar is a tiny cartoon kind of helps you to break that immersive feeling.


6. Attempt to socialize with other avatars. Describe the basics of what you did and the results. What were the limitations you experienced?

a. Well, my avatar is black and someone addressed me “Mortimer, what it do, brother?” I couldn’t get a snapshot of that, just my reaction. A big limitation is determining who said what, as I said before about the proximity of the avatars.


7. What is the basis of the economy of your selected world? Give some concrete examples of ways your avatar participates in that economy.

a. I’m not sure exactly how the economy works, but I have to go to “work” every 6 hours. I think I get coins for that.

b. After I click on “work in…” it takes me to this screen:


8. Identify your favorite in-world activity and why it was your favorite.

a. Favorite in-world activity would have to be going to the Speedway because it’s the most interactive thing for my short attention span.


9. How do in-world objects tell you how to operate them and/or aid in that operation?

a. Of what I saw, they are pretty simple and self explanatory:


10. Identify 1 aspect of your selected world that relates directly to the HOH-Agency Chapter and explain how.

One aspect I noticed that relates directly to what I experienced was when the article says “videogames are about exploring an infinitely expandable space.” The fact that any and every Facebook user can be a part of this virtual world in order to decorate their apartment, or whatever they want, makes the possibilities of rooms to go in to and see seem rather limitless.

Social Event and Reaction

The event that Mortimer chose to attend was called “TOUR MY CASTLE FOR FREE!” Surprisingly little interactions with other avatars, I was doing most of the talking. One person challenged me to a game of rock paper scissors and I lost. Another girl told me to “get out” and when I asked “why?” she simply said “I have to go weewee”, to which I replied “uh oh! You should go outside, being outdoors is the best!” I got no reaction out of her other than her leaving the room. I tried to go in a Jacuzzi but noticed that it said I must be wearing a bathing suit. I don’t think I should be limited to that in a virtual world. I also noticed that in this crowded castle full of things, it mad it difficult to click the right area of the doors in order to enter each room.

During all this interaction with others and whatnot, it really made me try to imagine what these other people on the other side are like in real life. What drives someone to spend real money in order to get fake money in order to buy ridiculous things to put in an imaginary “castle” in order to host an “event” that is just showing off how much time you’ve spent involved in this virtual world to begin with? I wasn’t quite overwhelmed, just whelmed. The experience educated me on how despite YoVille being a virtual world, people still take it pretty seriously, or at least enough to invest their own money in to it.

Virtual Identity

Chosen Virtual World: YoVille
Avatar Name: Mortimer
Identity: Mortimer is a Cuban ex-mercenary. Originally from the rough streets of Jamaica, a small town outside of Guantánamo,, he now lives in YoVille. Mortimer enjoys the simple things in life like hanging out in his wife-beater tank top, boxers, and climbing boots. Mortimer is a real hard-ass, which he has his Mercenary job to thank for. It is often hard to tell when Mortimer is joking or when he’s just living up to his hard-ass reputation. He hates the internet and interior decorating so you won’t find him inside doing either of those things. Mortimer is always out doing his best to preach the good word about being active outside, for he believes that life belongs outside as much as possible. He has a weakness for puppies and aspires to train them to be merciless mercenaries out to show no mercy just as he was taught growing up with in Jamaica’s roughest slums!