User Perceptions of Help Posts in Commu Help Exchange Application

Abstract

Online help exchange in neighbourhoods can benefit individuals and strengthen neighbourhood communities. Investigating users' insights and expectations on help is important for the design of an online help mediating application and matching users with relevant posts. This paper presents a study on users' perceptions of characteristics of posts on a help exchange application Commu. We conducted a survey (N = 45) and 12 semi-structured interviews of Commu users and found three themes that present what participants consider in the posts: 1: Through the informative elements in the user interface (UI) users find relevant information. 2: Pragmatic attributes define mediated help in concrete manner. 3: User perceptions and reactions are emotional consequences of reading the posts. Together these themes provide new insights on users' considerations regarding help exchange posts and can help design better help mediating services.