Twitter Bookmarks
Folders & Search
Mobile App
February 2021
(Personal /Hypothetical Project)
How can we incorporate user feedback to introduce enhancements to an existing feature?
About the project.
The product, feature, and overall goals.
Company
Twitter (X) is a social media platform.
Disclaimer: This is a personal hypothetical project, not affiliated with Twitter.
What is the feature?
Twitter (X) introduced Bookmarks in 2018, which allows users to save tweets privately. The feature did not undergo major updates for about 3 years.
Note: This project was done before the introduction of Twitter Blue’s Bookmark Folders in June 2021 and Bookmark Search update for all users in July 2024.
Overall Goals
I looked at an existing feature, the goals and pains of users, then made upgrades to enhance the experience.
Design an upgrade to allow for organization and/or filtering within the Bookmarks feature
Design an upgrade to a feature that seamlessly integrates with the current Twitter app by adhering to the existing brand style and the overall flow and feel of the product
The tools and timeline.
My Role
UX Design
Platform
Mobile app focused
Tools
Figma
Affinity Designer
Maze
Timeline
January 2021- February 2021
(Approx. 80 hours)
Why did I choose this project?
Twitter is a product I frequently use and enjoy. And as a person who uses it every day, there are certain things I wish were different — and I began to notice a lot of other people felt similarly.
This project to design additions to Twitter’s Bookmark feature was initially inspired by anecdotal evidence. I often saw general Tweets or Replies to the official Twitter account asking for Bookmarks folders — or some way to organize saved Tweets. Further research showed that for frequent users, there is a desire to have some sort of update to the feature.
For this project, I was interested in user behaviors. I wanted to know about how people used Twitter before Bookmarks was introduced, how they currently interact with and use Bookmarks, and how they might interact with an organization or search system if it existed.
It was very important for the design to integrate well with the rest of the product, so I was sure to study other features on Twitter and reach out to people I knew were frequent Twitter users for research and testing.
Research approach.
Research goals.
The goal of research was to understand the current user behaviors, trends and patterns in similar products, and the needs and pains of users in order to upgrade the Twitter Bookmarks feature.
What are the goals of the company and for this feature specifically?
What are current trends and patterns found in products with a similar feature?
What are current behaviors of users and how is this feature used?
What are current user pains?
Research methods.
Secondary Research
To gain an understanding of Twitter — the company goals and background of Bookmarks — and evidence of the general user desire for an organization system for Bookmarks
Competitive Analysis
To gain an understanding of direct and indirect competition and analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and common features
User Interviews
To gain a first-hand understanding of the goals, motivations, needs, and pains of Twitter users
User Surveys
To gain an understanding of how the feature is currently use and preferences for how the feature could be more usable
Research participants.
Participants from user interviews and surveys included:
Frequent Twitter users
Frequent Twitter Bookmarks users, with a majority of participants having 100+ Bookmarks
Key insights.
User Behaviors
Common bookmark uses.
Save Tweets to interact with later (Retweet, Reply, etc.)
Save Tweets to read or watch later
Save Tweets they want to remember
Save memes/videos/gifs/etc.
Save content they don’t want others to see
Pre-bookmark behaviors.
Users would often Direct Message (DM) themselves Tweets or send themselves Tweets in another way
User Pains & Preferences
User pain points included:
With more Tweets being Bookmarked, it’s difficult to find specific ones later
Many users would like a way to organize Bookmarks — preferably with customizable folders
Users would also find search/filtering helpful
Some users have gone back to DM-ing themselves, others have created external extensions and bot accounts to help others organize or search through Bookmarks
While doing user interviews, it was interesting how every person I talked to immediately said they wished there were folders the moment I brought up Bookmarks. I asked each of them if they would prefer a folders feature or a search feature, and from there, the answers were more divided. Overall, though, it seems like users would like both, or at least one or the other.
Direct and indirect competition.
I looked at similar products that had a feature like Bookmarks, as well as a few features within Twitter.
Coincidentally, in interviews, a couple of participants referenced Instagram’s Save feature as a good example for saving and organizing posts.
What people are saying.
“Sometimes you forget what you even Bookmarked.”
— Graduate Student, Frequent Twitter User
“It’s difficult sometimes because Bookmarks doesn’t really have an organizing feature. If you’re trying to find something specific but you Bookmark things all the time, then sometimes it’s hard to find what you’re looking for.”
— Freelance Editor, Frequent Twitter User
“I wish there was a way to organize your Bookmarks, because I Bookmark for several reasons.”
— Graduate Student, Frequent Twitter User
Define.
Understanding users.
To fully understand user behaviors and needs, it was important delve in further and envision the thoughts, needs, and daily lives of potential users.
User personas.
I started by making a few user personas based on my research. Each of them have different motivations and uses for Bookmarks.
Empathy map.
An empathy map allows us to get into the users’ minds and envision their thoughts, feelings, pains, gains, and what they are doing and seeing.
This empathy map generally covers what the personas above may collectively think, feel, or do.
Storyboard.
This storyboard looks at a user interacting with Twitter, and particularly Bookmarks, in their daily life — giving context to the product.
I looked at two different instances: one where my proposed changes to Bookmarks are implemented, and one that looks at the issues with the current Bookmarks feature.
User flow.
After gaining an understanding of user behaviors and pains, I created a user flow to show paths users would take while using Bookmarks:
Ideate.
Sketches.
After getting a better idea of user behaviors, I brainstormed and did some initial sketches of the pages.
I was able to discuss layout ideas with my peers and get some feedback from people with varied experience with Twitter (non-users, occasional users, and frequent users). This helped me take a step back and get a better sense of what kind of layouts and interactions would make the most sense.
Wireframes.
From there, I picked out the layouts and ideas I felt would work best to fit user needs and incorporate well with the existing app — and created wireframes:
Testing with users.
Usability testing.
I expanded on these wireframes to create a mid-fidelity prototype to test with users
Mid-fidelity was chosen so participants could focus on the interactions and the layout, rather than the look of the product
Usability tests were done over Zoom (moderated) and Maze (unmoderated)
Check out a sample run of the usability test here:
Affinity mapping and next steps.
I organized user behaviors and feedbacks in an affinity map and determined what changes to make, and the priority of changes
Iterate and refine.
Changes based on feedback.
Edit button & editing multiple bookmarks.
Based on user testing, the highest priority change was to change the functions of the Edit button and the menu button on the Individual Folder page, since there was a lot of confusion around editing/deleting multiple Tweets.
Considering the layout of general bookmarks.
Next, I reconsidered the layout of the Folders page and how General Bookmarks should be displayed, as one participant felt it was out of place, or unlike the overall feel of Twitter.
None of the other participants voiced concerns over the layout. But I didn’t want to completely rule this feedback out.
I contacted another participant and asked about this specifically, as well as a person who had not participated in user testing. Both of them stated they preferred the layout as it was (rather than having General Bookmarks in a folder). So I did not end up making changes.
Filter options.
Finally, based on the expectations and preferences for the Filter option, I expanded on this and added it to the prototype.
Working with existing branding.
After iterations were complete, I defined the UI and applied it key screens to create high-fidelity mockups.
The UI Kit is based on Twitter Brand Guidelines. I applied key brand content — such as logos, typography, and colors — and created new icons for Folders.
Reflections.
Looking Back.
For this project, I focused more on user behaviors, since I was working with an established product. Users have existing ideas and expectations, so it was especially important to be able to follow and evolve what Twitter already has. It made for an exiting and challenging project.
Looking Forward.
Based on the research and user testing, I think that for those who use Bookmarks, these upgrades could make the feature more useful. And for those who do not use the feature yet, I think these changes — including more visibility from the Timeline — could encourage people to use Bookmarks.
A question that came up after initial research was: What would users actually use more — Search or Folders? Though many people stated they wanted folders, behavior and actions may differ from what people say they’ll do.
If this project were to be applied to the real product, it would be interesting to do further research to see which feature — Search or Folders — is used more and is more impactful to the overall experience. And, it would be interesting to see if these changes actually would result in more engagement with the Bookmarks feature overall.
2024 Reflections.
Twitter introduced Bookmark Folders in June 2021 as a premium paid feature in Twitter Blue, a few months after I worked on this hypothetical project (in Jan-Feb 2021).
As I’m not subscribed, I don’t have hands-on experience with how it works, but it would be really interesting to find out how people are reacting to it and if there's any further enhancements that could improve user experience.
On July 9, 2024, Twitter (now X) introduced Bookmarks Search for all users. It is a general search bar that allows users to search by keyword or username. As of July 9, it seems to tie in with your other Recent Searches.
Like Folders, it’ll be interesting to see how people are reacting and what kind of enhancements may come in the future.
Explore other projects.