Designing a Better Reading Experience with Matter: Incorporating Gamification and Technology

Designing a Better Reading Experience with Matter: Incorporating Gamification and Technology

In today's digital age, reading online has become a multi-faceted process that encompasses more than just the act of reading itself. It involves deciding what to read, the process of reading, and what we do with the knowledge we gain from our reading. Over the years, read-it-later apps have emerged as a popular tool for managing our reading lists. However, the first generation of these apps lacked certain features that could enhance the reading experience. For example, they didn't help with prioritization, resurfacing, or decay.

At Matter, a new read-it-later app, we recognized the importance of addressing these limitations and creating a better reading experience. We drew inspiration from Jeff Bezos's philosophy of focusing on needs that won't change. We know that the supply of great content will continue to rise, attention will always be scarce, and the returns to making good decisions about what to read will remain high. With this in mind, we set out to build a platform that would prioritize users' needs and provide them with a curated and trustworthy reading experience.

One of the key factors in deciding what to read is trust, and people tend to trust other people. At Matter, we made the deliberate decision to elevate writers as first-class citizens in our system. We believe that good curation is incredibly valuable, especially in discovering hidden gems that may be overlooked by engagement-based algorithms. By giving writers a prominent role, we aim to provide our users with a curated selection of high-quality content that they can trust.

Another aspect of the reading experience that we wanted to improve was the ability to interact with the text. We wanted to make highlighting and annotating as seamless as possible. It's a small feature, but it can greatly enhance the reading experience. With Matter, users can simply press and drag to draw a highlight, making it effortless to mark important passages or quotes.

While it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends, we also believe that there is immense value in older content. In fact, 99.99% of the best stuff ever written or produced was not written in the past week. With this in mind, we designed Matter to serve as a counterweight to the bias towards new content. We aim to deliver both new and older content in a way that is relevant and manageable for our users.

In addition to improving the reading experience, we also wanted to address the challenges of reading on different devices. Email inboxes, for example, are not ideal for reading. Most people want to get through their inbox quickly and efficiently, so spending more time there is not desirable. We recognized the need for a better solution and incorporated highly reliable parsing techniques, including natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision, to enhance the user experience. This allows for accurate and efficient reading across various platforms.

Furthermore, we acknowledged the growing importance of audio as a mode of content consumption. With advancements in hardware, listening to audio content has become more convenient than ever. To cater to this trend, we introduced a feature called "audio highlights" in Matter. Users can now highlight sections of text while listening to audio content, without having to open their phones or interrupt their listening experience. This seamless integration of audio and text enhances the overall reading experience.

In terms of user interface, we introduced a unique feature called "minimaps." Inspired by video games and code editors, minimaps provide users with a miniaturized version of an article, allowing them to scan headers and quickly navigate through the content. This feature is particularly useful for mobile users and promises to be even more impressive on desktop web.

At Matter, our core users are what we refer to as "active" readers. They are intentional about what they read and actively curate their information diets. They have their favorite writers and subscribe to newsletters. They seek out obscure blogs for unique insights. Our goal is to increase the return on investment (ROI) of reading for these active readers. We want to help them gain more insight, knowledge, and even a sense of thrill from the time they invest in reading.

To conclude, here are three actionable pieces of advice for designing a better reading experience:

1. Prioritize trust and curation: Elevate writers as first-class citizens in your platform and provide users with a curated selection of high-quality content that they can trust.

2. Enhance interactivity: Incorporate features like highlighting and annotating to make the reading experience more engaging and interactive.

3. Embrace different modes of content consumption: Recognize the importance of audio and other modes of consumption, and design your platform to seamlessly integrate different formats.

In the digital age, reading online has evolved into a complex process that encompasses various behaviors and considerations. By incorporating gamification, technology, and user-centered design principles, we can create a better reading experience that caters to the needs of modern readers. With Matter, we are committed to helping users get the most out of their reading time, providing them with valuable insights, knowledge, and a sense of thrill.