TouchBase

TouchBase is a Swift app that allows for approachable networking through objective based conversation initiators and meetup scheduling within one's personal resume.

TouchBase builds on this core experience by leveraging the newly introduced App Clips infrastructure of iOS 14 to enable spontaneous interactions through shareability of networking details with people outside of the app ecosystem.

Transitioning to Networking

As someone who is in the midst of pivoting away from their university degree into a brand new field, the transition can, at times, be daunting.

While there are plenty of networking opportunities during an undergraduate degree, I always found myself on the side of the networking facilitators for events and less on the side of the networker. Due to this, the shift to communicating my value and story is a new experience that I was woefully unprepared for and was well outside my comfort zone.

Value of Networking

If networking is so draining to engage in, it’s fair to ask why someone would even bother engaging in it?

According to TopResume, “when you invest in your relationships - professional and personal - it can help you develop your skill set, stay on top of the latest trends, keep a pulse on the job market and meet prospective people that will foster your career development.” The importance of this is furthered by Review42 with the following statistics:

Aside from the interpersonal value of networking, there is real tangible value for people either new to their careers, or are looking to switch things up, but people just aren’t investing as much time as they should be. Taking this into consideration, there is a clear need to encourage continual engagement of networking by making the practice less draining for those involved.

Networking Dynamics

In order to understand the dynamics of the networking experience, and the underlying reasons for why it feels draining and hard to maintain, I conducted three online interviews to get the perspective of individuals who were early on in their careers.

Frame of Reference

Using these quotes from above I was able to construct two personas that embody the people I interviewed, and an additional third that was inferred based on online articles and who the people I interviewed were hoping to interact with.

1 of 3

Despite all being at different stages in their career, networking provides an avenue for each of them to progress their lifelong goals. The disconnect for each of these personas comes from the uncertainty of knowing how to communicate and facilitate the “quid pro quo” of networking in a way that feels shared and is sustainable over an extended period of time.

While each persona has their own issues with the networking experience, I focused primarily on the perspective of Paulina (prospective persona) as they arguably have the most barriers to overcome due to being new to a field and networking in general.

Unhiding Information

Information like one’s background or current roles are readily available on platforms like LinkedIn, but details on what a person is interested in talking about, if they have the time to help, and if they are even willing or capable of doing so sometimes require extensive digging or direct contact to uncover.

These unknowns in networking make the process of determining if and how someone should connect with another the challenge that it is, especially when it leads to rejection or ghosting. Therefore, a possible solution to the issue of approachability in networking could be in providing upfront visibility to this vital information.

Modern Solutions

Modern iterations of the networking formula take cues from the online dating scene which allow users to view details on the person they might want to connect with first, to determine if they should reach out.

The most notable of these products are Bumble Bizz and Shapr, so I looked to them for inspiration for how they attempt to make networking approachable. The value of these product experiences are their emphasis on prompts, for how to initiate conversations, and suggestions, in the case of how they would like to meet, to help both parties towards their goal of connecting.

Sharing Details:Bumble uses their dating platform to allow users to share their professional details and swipe for new connections.

Profile Prompts:Bumble utilizes profile prompts to help users quickly transition into a conversation that will be interesting for the recipient.

Focused Search:Shapr allows users to filter who they connect with by job titles, goals and interests so that their limited matches are worthwhile.

Meet Preferences:Shapr lets users indicate what they would like to be doing when they meet for their in-person networking session.

Barriers to Connecting

While the current solutions outlined above are great for the discovery of people that fit the criteria of who networkers want to connect with, they have their limitations.

Bumble Bizz and Shapr are closed ecosystems which are limited to connecting with people who have already downloaded the app and have no way of sharing your profile details with people through chance encounters. Even LinkedIn, which has the benefit of being web based, forces the viewer to have an account to even look at the account of the person they want to connect with.

Legacy Solution

It’s because of this closed ecosystem that business cards have continued to see use as a form of sharing vital networking details, with the very act of handing someone your card serving as an open invite which says, “let’s continue this relationship”.

Unfortunately, this medium has limitations in how much information can be fit on a card, if the details are up-to-date, and whether a contact remembers to follow up which is all dependent on if the user had one on them to share in the first place. Despite these drawbacks, we continue to use business cards as there is value in how little barriers there are between information being shared while also serving as a tangible reminder that an initial connection occurred.

Connect First, Share Later

While I am still in the process of building out the user flow of an MVP experience, my north star for the design of this product was ensuring each aspect of the experience felt approachable and like an open-invite for connection.

The focus was therefore on having a genuine chat with someone in the moment, and then allowing the TouchBase experience to communicate what their “call to action” is, without them having to say it on the spot. In that way, TouchBase carries the heavy lifting of the “ask” which can serve as the basis for further communication once that initial connection has been established.

Trigger:TouchBase encourages spontaneous networking by enables profile sharing through an App Clip.

Action:TouchBase displays a users call to action cards at the start of their profile to serve as conversation initiators.

Action:TouchBase provides a users background for context when deciding to reach out and plan meetups.

Reward:TouchBase allows for streamlined meetup planning by suggesting crowdsourced networking spots.

Investment:TouchBase showcases a users scheduled meetups front and center to remind users to maintain their connections.

Making it Habitual

While I am still in the process of building out the user flow of an MVP experience, my north star for the design of this product was ensuring each aspect of the experience felt approachable and like an open-invite for connection.

As I build out the rest of the product experience, I will be aligning it to the trusty Hook Model framework to tackle the issue of people struggling to keep networking a habitual activity they engage in regardless of where they are at in their career. While this doesn’t go into the exact form these aspects will take, it will hopefully provide some insight on the type of engagement loop I am seeking to emulate as this project progresses.