Friends at Flymachine
Designing social features to bring people together around live music — before, during, and after the show
Overview
Flymachine is a virtual venue for live entertainment that brings the immersion and community of real-world performances to the digital realm. The challenge was to make the experience more social and engaging — not just during events, but before and after them — so fans would keep coming back.
The Challenge
Socializers came to Flymachine to connect with friends through live music but lacked ways to interact outside the at-event experience. We needed to design a system that made social interaction core to the platform — even when no concerts were happening.
Design Question: How can we bring users back to Flymachine when there isn’t a concert happening?
“I love seeing my friends at shows, but when there’s no event — I kind of forget the platform exists.”
My Approach
I focused on understanding the motivations of our most social user type — the Socializer — and how Flymachine could better serve them through ongoing connection, discoverability, and shared experiences.
Goals
- Inspire and engage others through shared musical experiences
- Enjoy live music as a social event
- Communicate easily with friends during and outside events
Challenges
- FOMO — missing out on events and social moments
- Limited discoverability of new artists or shows
- Lack of connection between events
User Journey Map
This visualization represents how users engage with Flymachine’s new social layer — highlighting key touchpoints of the “Friends” experience.
Design Solutions
We designed and validated three major features to strengthen engagement and community.
1. Friends List & Messaging
- Persistent friend system across events
- Real-time messaging with lobby and direct chats
- Activity indicators showing where friends are watching
2. Hero Feed Social Integration
- Social posts tied to event replays
- Easy sharing to other platforms
- Embedded “join friend” actions from the feed
3. At-Event Chat Rooms
- Lobby-based public rooms and private DMs
- Simple, unobtrusive chat during performances
- Lightweight architecture to support high concurrency
Impact
The “Friends” feature successfully transformed Flymachine from a passive streaming platform into a social hub — increasing engagement, extending watch sessions, and fostering community retention.
Key Takeaways
Social context extends engagement
Adding friend and chat systems encouraged users to return between events, improving long-term retention.
Simple chat mechanics can drive deeper community
Even lightweight messaging significantly increased user connection, proving you don’t need complex social layers to spark meaningful interaction.
Design for both event and non-event moments
Creating a reason to return outside live performances is critical to platform stickiness — a principle now guiding Flymachine’s roadmap.