Usability evaluation of a social networking site prototype for the elderly

Abstract

Social networking sites offer a number of benefits; however a large amount of elder adults still do not engage in these types of sites due to usability issues and a lack of understanding of Web 2.0 concepts. To alleviate these issues, a social networking site interface was redesigned to accommodate elders so that they can reap the benefits of social media. Following a three phased usability study, 22 elder adults utilized a redesigned website incorporating web standards and additional usability and accessibility considerations. With the use of the redesigned prototype, does it improve accessibility and usability for elder adults? What tasks improved in terms of success rates and task performance? How do the elders perceive the newly redesigned prototype? The preliminary findings of this study show that usability and accessibility for elder adults improved when utilizing the redesigned social networking site. In addition, elder adults had a more positive perception of these types of sites after using the redesigned prototype.