UPDATE:

We’re now in the process of expanding this study to include other relationship apps besides Couple, including: Avocado, Between, Duet, LoveByte, etc. If you use one or more of these apps, we’d love to connect!

 

Since our earlier call for participants, I’ve been scouring the Boston area looking for people to interview who use the relationship-app, Couple (formerly Pair). Those who have participated have found it thought provoking and fun experience. We’re now expanding the in-person interview component of our study to include participants in the NYC and Philadelphia areas. We’re looking for a range of experiences, and participants can be any kind of couple, not just romantic. And if you’re in a long-distance relationship, only one of you has to live in either Boston, NYC, or Philadelphia. As before, each participant will receive a $20 gift card.

Here’s a brief description of the project from our last post.

Couple is an innovative app designed to help couples stay in touch. It’s one among an increasing number of microsocial platforms that cater to small groups rather than large networks. In the case of Couple, it’s a social network of just two. While there is a ton of research on scalable social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, not much has been done to look at people’s experiences in these small microsocial platforms. We’re seeking to change that! Joshua McVeigh-Schultz and Nancy Baym are conducting a study of relational communication within Couple.

If you don’t live in the Boston, NYC, or Philadelphia metro areas, but are still interested in this study, please let me know. (There is a good chance we’ll be organizing some Skype interviews as well in the near future.)

Participation in the study involves a 1-hour interview in which you would be share parts of your Couple timeline with us. There will be options to control what and how you share. All participants will be anonymous and any images or quotes will have identifying information removed.

If you and your partner are interested in participating, please contact Joshua McVeigh-Schultz at t-josmc _at_ Microsoft _dot_ com.