Persuasive Technologies

Michael Fuller

Persuasion

• Technologies being used to draw people’s attention to certain kinds of information in an attempt to change what they do or think.

• Stop Smoking, Buy this, Do That

The Past

• In the past persuasion was done through advertisements that would pull at your heartstrings or make you think an action is wrong.

Media Format

Donate now and save a child!

Media Format

As seen on I-65 somewhere between Prattville and Clanton.

Games

• Pocket Pikachu– “Real” Exercise keeps the

virtual pet alive

Making Life Easy

• Amazon One Click– With only one click a package

could be on its way.– Makes purchasing so simple that

its tempting to buy stuff.

Pointless Rewards

• Achievement Points– Collected through performing

tasks in games.– Pointless, but people will

spend money just to increase their score.

– Some will play games they don’t want to just to get the points.

• “Fight Night Round 3”• “Galaga”

Quick Rewards

• The Orange Box / Steam– Purchase the Game early get 10% off and the

ability to play it early.– Persuade people to pre-order by offering

them early access.

• Play TF2 of Mac Ad– Video

E-Mail Scams

– Phony e-mails from banks, pay pay, ebay & others that want private information.

– Note: You would think by now e-mail server would automatically catch and erase these e-mails.

Positive Reinforcement

• Users of persuasive technologies usually get a reward for using the system.– Achievement Points

• More & More & More

– Pikachu Lives• It Lives!

– Early Access• Play it before its released

– Quick Satisfaction

Worthless Rewards

• WaterBot– Lights would change and make sounds when

you saved water.– It was found that people didn’t care about the

color changing water, but rather their score against another, to see who was saving the most water.