Honeycomb Model

The honeycomb model is a model by I.P. McCarthy to research the conceptualization of all kinds of social media. This honeycomb model consists of seven functional building blocks: sharing, relationships, groups, presence, conversation, identity and reputation. Depending on which social media you are researching, some elements will be emphasized more than others and vice versa.

SHARING

PRESENCE

IDENTITY

CONVERSATIONS

RELATIONSHIPS

REPUTATION

GROUPS

Sharing and Relationships

Given the name and the concept of our app we obviously chose to put “sharing” and “relationships” in the centre of attention: the main idea of our app is sharing skills and build new relationships.

Presence

If you want to switch skills it is vitally important that the other person is available and willing to meet up and switch skills.

Groups

For those who are interested and willing, Switch gives the opportunity to participate and teach group lessons.

Conversation

Switch offers the option to chat with each other but it is not the main goal of the app.

Identity

Using Switch defines the user as social and eager to learn.

Reputation

Since we developed Switch to help others and make life easier, reputation is not a big issue concerning our project or within our team.