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I noticed that for many video conferencing app, there's a functionality to pin a participant, but it's always not obvious to me that the pinning only applies to you. The first time I saw it in the past, I didn't click on the feature thinking that it might change everyone else's view.

What's a more obvious way to communicate that pinning only happens to you?

Maybe change the language to say, "Pin to your screen"?

Zoom: enter image description here

Google Meet:

enter image description here

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    I got the same fear when first using the pin. I just started using it first time being like: yolo ... let's see what happens. It gets even weirder on other video conferencing apps that say: "Move to scene" or "Spotlight". But yes, I'm not sure what the solution would be to communicate that it's only applicable to you.
    – Chris
    Feb 22 at 22:39
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    Ya—"Pin to your screen" works for me. Feb 22 at 23:29
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    And then when you're a host... Double all the settings :) pin to your screen, pin to everyone's screen... Feb 23 at 5:04

2 Answers 2

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I would try to be super explicit. I think this formula works well:

[verb] - Only applies to you

So: “Pin - only applies to you". It sounds less ambiguous.

Spotify uses this ("only visible to you" ) for those stats that are on your profile but are only visible to you.

enter image description here

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I agree that making the language "Pin to your screen" or "Pin for yourself" more clear would make it clear that the pinning functionality only affects the participant who pins the video, and not other participants.

Furthermore, explaining pinning's meaning and working could also make it easier to understand. A brief tooltip or tutorial that appears when a user uses a feature for the first time could be helpful. It could also include a warning that the pinning only affects their own view, not everyone else's.

Adding a visual cue, such as the pin icon next to the pinned video, would make it clearer. It could reinforce the idea that pinning is a personal choice, not a group option.

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