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We are building a kiosk and we need the ability to share an image (or a url to an image) across different social networks.

I dislike the idea of asking for login credentials for each network. The process takes way too long and I know I'd feel very uneasy typing my credentials into a public machine right out in the open.

Would my best bet here be getting it to the user and letting them share it from the comfort of their own device? What would be the best method to do this? QR Code? SMS? Email?

Here's my opinions on the different options:

My gut is telling me email is the safest bet. I feel like this would be most easily understood by users of the most age groups.

A QR code would be perfect since it requires no input from the user and it's instant but I'm not sure it's understood by enough people.

An SMS would be almost as good as an email but I feel only slightly more comfortable giving away my email address. Not sure if people feel the same way about this as me.

Anyone using these methods have any data on what's the most successful? Any method I completely skipped?

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  • Another method: register an app with most social networks and use their api's to allow the user to log in directly to the site(s) that they want to use. Advantage: you don't need to ask for credentials the networks will take care of that. Huge disadvantages: you will probably miss plenty of networks (though it shouldn't be too much effort to add them as you go) but even so you will have users wanting to share on multiple networks simultaneously and it would still be cumbersome for them to have to login on each. --> Send it to them/their device is the friendliest solution. Dec 31, 2013 at 19:38

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I can't share any data with you, but I can share my opinion.
I think it will depend on how intimate the interaction with the kiosk will be. Location will have a great deal to do with it. Is it in a public area or is it quite secluded. The communication towards the user can help with this too. Speaking directly to the user can increase the feeling of intimacy and security. The longer the user will interact with the kiosk will create more intimacy too.
If it's intimate, I think you can ask quite a lot from people. I feel the same way about a phone number being more sensitive than a email address. But in a safe environment I think you can ask for social credentials.
If the interaction is not so intimate, I would go for a QR code, with possibly a second option of sending it by email.
In both cases, I think as little as interactions or clicks as possible is key for obvious UX reasons. A QR code scores best on that area.

It's difficult, by I hope my opinion will help a bit.

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    It'll be in a museum, from what I understand two in a wide open room with lots of art all around. I do love the QR code approach but I'm not sure it's familiar enough yet with the elderly. I'm just the developer but I'm thinking of suggesting to the UX guys something like: " Send my image to [ [email protected] ] [ Send ] or Scan this QR code [ ]" Jan 2, 2014 at 14:18
  • @BillCriswell it will be the approach easiest to understand, but I'm afraid the threshold for actually sharing that image on social media will be high for it will take some effort from the user (multiple clicks and a reasonable amount of minutes of their time). But I could be wrong. Do you have any conversion rates in mind? Like "(We hope) 20% of the museum visitors will use the kiosk and of those visitors 10% will share an image on social media". Jan 2, 2014 at 14:32

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