Table 1.

Participant feedback from beta testing of the Thrive with Me (TWM) site.

Topic	Likes	Dislikes	Participant recommendations	Action taken
SMSa reminders	“The med reminders are amazing because they hit on the point, the exact time that I set it for, so it helps so much!...It helps me take my meds every day.”	“Sometimes it just says ‘bye’ at the end of the text message and that’s a little brief. Like maybe say something else or don’t say anything at all.”	New or different options to describe emotions, new valediction	Used more discrete language (multivitamin instead of dose) as default message; Mood responses updated; Changes to greeting messages and discontinued “goodbye” message
Thrive tips	“I think it’s amazing...that it gives you tips and like things I didn’t even know. I was like that’s awesome! I think they’re very helpful.”			Added Thrive Tips to the first week of the intervention specifically orienting participants to the intervention; Added Thrive Tips to the final 2 weeks of the intervention regarding finding social support after TWM, closure within the intervention and “graduating” from TWM
Mobile features	“On the computer it looked really nice and I liked the layout, like Facebook.”	“On the phone, I don’t know, it was more difficult to see everything, you had to scroll up and down and left and right and it was just hard to use.”	More mobile-friendly design and features, icon on phone's home screen	Updated layout of some Web pages; Added an icon for a phone’s home screen and provided participants instructions for setting the icon
Social features	“It was kind of helpful because I read how other people—how they expressed their emotions, how they felt, what they were going through…so it kind of helps you in your day by day so you don’t feel like you’re alone.”	“I wouldn’t use it for that. I mean, I don’t really want to engage with people who I don’t know.”	Larger maximum file size for uploads to post on the wall, notification when one's post is commented on or liked	Updated file size to accommodate larger images or graphic interchange formats; Built notification system to track comments and likes within the TWM site (no text, email, or banner notifications were added)
Profile	“Avatar choices are cute, they didn’t have faces, they are anonymous, but there should be more choices.”	“I don’t like the avatars at all. I’m half something and half something else with blue hair…It looks like a muppet.”	More diverse options for avatars, profile questions about HIV-related or life-related experiences	Increased avatar choices and added features requested by participants (glasses, afros, more feminine looking options, etc); Added “Talk to me about” feature with “check all that apply” responses for a variety of topics related to HIV and general well-being
Achievements	“They were cute, very cute…They’re uplifting, you know, you never know what someone is going through and some people are never told that they do anything right. The badges tell you ‘good job’.”	“Badges, achievements, I didn’t understand it. What are these points? Am I getting money at the end of the day? Why am I doing this?”	More clarity about what earns points and what badges mean	Added a “Getting Started with TWM” Web page to explain all components of the intervention; Updated in-person website orientation to include more details about achievements
Overall	“I mean we walk around with HIV, I have HIV positive friends, but a lot of times the only interaction I would have around HIV positive people would be around sex, so this kind of brings it around, where having that conversation brings it out of the sexual realm and maybe more into the supportive realm, for people who may not have that already.”	“For people newly diagnosed or early in their diagnosis this would be a very very useful tool…but for me personally it’s just not practical. I don’t need the things that it offers.”	N/Ab	N/A

^aSMS: short message service.

^bN/A: not applicable.