Platform Health and Safety
A competitive audit and customer journey framework to define Twitter's Health Playbook—shifting platform safety from reactive to proactive.
2022
UX Strategy, Research, Customer Journey Mapping
Group Director, Product Design
Competitive Analysis, Customer Journey Mapping, UX Strategy, Research Synthesis, Health Playbook
3 months
Brands audited
Increase in accounts actioned
Health pillars defined
Who We Designed For
340M daily Twitter users navigating public conversation
Marginalized Communities
Black, LGBTQ+, and feminist users who are the most active and most likely to experience abuse on platform
New Members
40% don't return after signup, failing to form meaningful connections necessary to stay engaged
Reluctant Participants
Users who self-censor due to fear of harassment—worry about negativity is #1 reason for not tweeting
First-Person Reporters
Members who report abuse but feel unheard when 92% of reports aren't actioned
The Health Imperative
Twitter's health features were working—rules were enforced, speedbumps reduced inflamed reactions. But safety was hidden in settings, making key controls hard to discover. Members assumed their rights weren't protected simply because they couldn't find the tools. We needed to understand what 'best in class' looked like across the industry.
"Without transparency and education, new safety controls feel disingenuous—or worse, like censorship."
Competitive Audit
We analyzed 30 brands across direct competitors, indirect competitors, and outside industries to identify the best health and safety practices in the business.
Direct Competitors
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, Parler, and Mastodon—platforms competing for the same public conversation space with varying approaches to content moderation.
Indirect Competitors
Clubhouse, Discord, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, and Twitch—platforms with community-first health messaging that absolves them of some responsibility through individual moderation.
Outside Industry
Airbnb, NextDoor, Tinder, Uber—brands outside social media with meaningful relevance to trust, safety, and user-to-user interaction patterns.
Six Pillars of Platform Health
Research revealed six key themes that separate best-in-class platforms from the rest. Each pillar represents an opportunity to shift from reactive feature development to proactive health integration.
- Trust & Transparency—Clear communication of safety efforts without industry jargon, keeping the customer's side in disputes
- Onboarding—Building community through shared responsibility, making guidelines digestible at the speed of new members
- Education & Advice—Providing knowledge and guidance to equip member decisions and empower informed choices
- Sense of Control—Giving members tools to craft their experience, showing who's in the room, providing emergency lifelines
- Reporting—Simplifying complex tasks, centering the reporter's experience with trauma-informed questions, keeping members updated
- Support—Making members feel heard after reporting harm, ensuring voices matter in the decision-making process
Customer Journey Framework
We mapped the complete member journey across 10 stages—from Awareness & Reputation through Resolution. Four personas (representing marginalized communities, new users, reluctant participants, and power users) revealed friction points where safety features failed to meet members at moments of need. The framework identified 20+ touchpoints for health interventions.
The Trifecta Model
Effective platform health requires three entities working together: People bringing their true selves to the community, Policy that's clear enough to find and administer, and Platform implementing features with health considerations. When these align, safety becomes organic and actionable rather than hidden and punitive.
"Brands respond to safety issues with features, but lag in developing a brand strategy that integrates a strong health POV."