Group interview of online identity management-2013.06.03

Today I had an informal group interview with four design students about how people interact with their identity management online. We started the discussion from 1Password- password management application and talked about how customers use this service to help them better store and remember passwords. Then we extended the topic of what’s people’s behaviors online- especially for social networks. Here are three main groups of finding I get from this helpful group interview:

1. Online identity management frustration causes:

• one part update in a combined system (Safari & 1Password)
• two passwords requested in one system (alipay- Chinese PayPal)
• not timely record (1Password)
• contact information change (i.e. phone number)
• confused login failure (Prezi)
• information sync across sites (i.e. share same photos on different sites)
• previous password setting pattern doesn’t fit new platform request (i.e. capital letter for apple app accounts)
• occupied account names
• security risk of linked accounts

2. People’s value of online identities:

• what people may store as private info: passwords, account names, telephone numbers, birthdays etc.
• people sometimes evaluate devices’ security level for online data use
• people have different rules of information sharing for various accounts and different people hold different rules as well
• more people like to demand more than contribute information online
• people may worry practical jokes of personal photos
• people may feel safer to share information with “friends” who manage their friends cautiously
• people may like to search online profiles of a new person before physically contact
• people are more receptive of real-name environment than before
• leave comments with real-person profile picture give the feeling of more veritable & worth reading
• people want to protect family members’ online privacy
• people are not comfortable of amplified personal details online
• people may feel tired and messy to take various audience for different accounts into account very carefully
• people prefer convenient & fluid user experience
• people may value more of audience needs rather than themselves’ 

3. Online identity behavior change causes:

• online service suggestion (Google 2-step authentication)
• new devices (i.e. ipad)
• new online services (i.e. apps for different info types storage)
• service policy (i.e. MyDundee request users change passwords every year)
• new service functions (Safari)
• audience movement (i.e. friends move to other social networks)
• life stages and life focuses change
• new social network environment effect
• short-term purpose reached (i.e. quite email subscription)
• look for united service experience (Google doc & Gmail)

3 main password management services

(Elements comparison table of three main password management services)

There are three main password management services nowadays-1Password, LastPass and KeePass– and their system and function is quite similar to the outcome my Master Project would like to achieve. Therefore it’s very meaningful to study on these three services. As a start I gave a trail with each of them and experienced how they work. Then I collected more online comments and tutorials from others to make a comparison within these three services. As the above table shows there are many different features within the password management services and here are the common elements:

• Master password: To get access to the management system, users need to set a master password and must remember it-the service cannot help you get back the master password any longer because it will not save the password to guarantee users’ security control;
• Password separation: As users get access to the password management service with one master password, there is no need for them to remember password for each online platform. Therefore users can set super strong passwords for each site and the service could help users generate random and strong passwords- it encourages users to set stronger but harder remember passwords;
• Browser plug-in: Most services are based on browser and work as plug-in. In this way when users login or create a new account the plug-in could help automatically generate, remember and fill in accounts information and that saves users’ lots of time;
• Devices sync: Most services support data sync across various devices and systems. It works as cloud storage or data file saved on Dropbox. However, the user experience across devices might be affected by inconsistent interfaces, prices or developers;
• Function: Most services are focusing more on password management. Some of them offer identity or account management as well but just work in the same approach of password management and that don’t fit IDM requirements quite well.