User Involvement, Social Media, and Service Evolution: The Case of Habbo

Understanding user needs and involving users are key success factors for service development. However, it is unclear how to apply old wisdoms from traditional product development settings in a social media context. This article analyses user involvement practices in a longitudinal case study of the virtual world and social networking service called Habbo. The focus is on how particular social media aspects, such as persistent user-created content and developers´ easy access to online user action, shaped user involvement and how it evolved over time. In line with previous research, the findings indicate that user involvement becomes more formal as the user community grows and the service-market combination matures. In addition, user involvement regarding social media appears to be an issue of timing, trans-nationality, and governance. The results suggest that the usability practitioner´s ´toolbox´ needs tuning regarding social media.