Here’s a Qriously case study, from Katy Gilbert – enjoy!

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I have been using our free Qriously account for the last month.  (Thanks Amy for getting us hooked up!) I wasn’t sure what to expect, but loved it straight from the start.  It is easy to use and understand.  The data is clearly laid out.  And it was so much fun to watch people answering the questions and getting real time data to things that would help our project.

Background on the project:

Stories of Our City is a worldwide project sharing true stories from around the world.  We believe that if people will listen to each other they will understand each other better – and hopefully take steps as world citizens to build a more peaceful world.

With this in mind, we asked questions in 3 primary areas:

1. content- “what kind of stories do people like?”
2. ideas about peace “what do people think about world peace?”
3. social media “how can we use social media to engage people in our project?”

Questions & Qriously Answers

Here is a run down of questions we asked and the way people responded around the world:

Content

“what kind of personal stories do you like best?  Funny or Dramatic

“what kind of stories do you like?”   Funny or Dramatic

Dramatic won the first one, but then funny won the second question. It was helpful to know that people want to listen to moving, dramatic stories if they are listening to life stories.

Peace

“What will stop the next war?” Understanding or weapons

With understanding winning out by 8.6 %.  But the interesting thing is you can see what people in certain locations think of your question.  For instance, in India, weapons won out.  But in the U.S. it was understanding.  It was great to be able to see the geographic breakdown on these kinds of questions.

“will there ever be world peace?” Yes or no

Although most Americans answered “no,” the Argentinians were the most optimistic of all the countries.

“what effects world peace?” World leaders or citizens

It was interesting to note that most people think world leaders (18% more than citizens).  This helped us realize that our project (dealing mostly in helping citizens understand each other better) has barriers to overcome in helping other people see that their actions effect world peace.

Social Media

The last category of questions that we asked was regarding Facebook and Twitter use.  We needed to know more about how people use facebook, so we asked them:

“what are you most likely to share on Facebook?” Photos or links

The results were tied.  So, we know that we can add photos and links to help engage people on our website and we don’t have to worry about not engaging a certain group.

“what do you share on Facebook?” Photos or random news

We found out that people are more likely to share photos.  So, now we know to spend time getting great photos and not so much time on being cute with the random facts.

We also asked people if they had ever heard of Stories of Our City and if they visit our website daily or weekly, etc.   It is a great way to find out how you are doing in your marketing strategies! – like having a global focus group at your disposal!

So, basically, I love Qriously and I am so glad that we got to give it a go- Thanks a ton!

Thanks to everyone that’s shared comments so far in this process – it’s been a great experience and I am so thrilled to have such thoughtful, honest, sharing folks like YOU contributing here!

Redesign topic #3: Adding the Extras

When I say extras, I mean the widgets, plugins, apps and other random bits that can really add a bit of flavor, not to mention functionality, to a website. I know that I have some that I really like and imagine you have lots of great suggestions.  So let’s hear them! I’ve broken the two areas down into some of the things I’m already using (so you can weigh in and say “keep that!” or “lose it!”) and then for everything else.  Looking forward to your ideas!

Focus: What Exists

Any of these things worth keeping? I know you’ll be honest!

• Postalicious – this fuels the “round up” posts
• MyBlogLog – this lives in the side bar
• Twitoaster – this fuels the “tweet this” button on posts and replies via twitter in the comments
• Site search
• WordPress built-ins like recent posts, comments, etc.

Focus: Everything Else

There are so many tools out there designed to plug right into a site – what have you used or seen that you recommend adding here? And why?

Please share your responses in the comments – that way others can respond/reply to your feedback as well as leave their own. Matt and I will be both be responding, asking questions, and participating as well! Please share your ideas and feedback!

Redesign topic #2: Focused on Conversations

I’m happy to take on the role of conversation starter, sharing news or case studies or ideas that are interesting and letting all of you run with it.  And that’s just what happens here most of the time: there are around 500 posts and over 3,700 comments!  Clearly there’s a lot more going on than just blog posts and I want to be sure that the redesign creates valuable ways to elevate and highlight the conversations and contributions from everyone visiting this space.

There are two focus areas below and some options for answers – please note there’s an “other” listed for both as I’m sure there are things I haven’t thought to include and hope you’ll feel open to listing them!

Focus: Content that’s conversation worthy

What helps or inspires you to dive into a conversation or share your own knowledge/experience after you read a post?

• Questions included at the end
• Seeing comments from others
• Direct/personal invitations
• Options to comment via other methods (Twitter, etc.)
• Other

Focus: Finding and following conversations

How would you like to be able to find conversations or follow them either on the blog or using other platforms tools?

• Recent comments highlighted in sidebar
• Popular conversations highlighted in sidebar
• Subscribe to comments
• Options for sharing comment/post via social media
• Other

Please share your responses in the comments – that way others can respond/reply to your feedback as well as leave their own. Matt and I will be both be responding, asking questions, and participating as well! Please share your ideas and feedback!

How this works:

This week, there will be 3 (yes, 3!) blog posts asking for your feedback, each with a specific topic and options. Hopefully that means it’s really easy to weigh in and you’ll give lots of feedback After all, this process is designed to make it easy for you to get even more of what you want from me!

Redesign topic #1: The Content You Want

For today’s topic, I want to talk about the kind of content that is interesting to you and keeps you coming back for more. Figuring that piece out means that Matt and I will be able to highlight content for you, design the site to feature what you’re after, and even help me write more of the interesting stuff! There are two focus areas below and some options for answers – please note there’s an “other” listed for both as I’m sure there are things I haven’t thought to include and hope you’ll feel open to listing them!

Focus: What is the content you come here for most?

• blog posts and conversations
• presentations or speaker slides/notes
• case studies or examples
• other resources (please describe)

Focus: What elements would make content easiest to find?

• search for tags or categories
• search for titles or conferences
• search for organization names or case study topics
• other (please describe)

Please share your responses in the comments – that way others can respond/reply to your feedback as well as leave their own. Matt and I will be both be responding, asking questions, and participating as well! Please share your ideas and feedback!