« February 2005 | Main | April 2005 »
March 28, 2005
But it won't make you funnier
"The idea for Joke-e-oke is simple. It's basically karaoke with stand-up comedy material. Many dream of the chance to be a comedian with killer material in front of a laughing crowd. With Joke-e-oke, people are able to live out their comedy fantasy of being their favorite comedian onstage, choosing from a list of stand-up comedy icons to perform. A built in laugh track is added, timed perfectly to accent punch lines." From Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,66964,00.htmlPosted by at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
But it won't make you funnier
"The idea for Joke-e-oke is simple. It's basically karaoke with stand-up comedy material. Many dream of the chance to be a comedian with killer material in front of a laughing crowd. With Joke-e-oke, people are able to live out their comedy fantasy of being their favorite comedian onstage, choosing from a list of stand-up comedy icons to perform. A built in laugh track is added, timed perfectly to accent punch lines." From Wired: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,66964,00.htmlPosted by at 08:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 13, 2005
3 differences between "regular" persuasion and captology
Yesterday, somebody asked me what the difference between captology and "regular persuasion" was. There are a lot of similarities (both try to change attitudes and behaviors, both have many ethical concerns, etc) but there are also many differences. Here are a few factors of captology we've realized are different from traditional persuasion. (This short list isn't inclusive!)- Captology gives designers the ability to scale. BJ Fogg pointed this out in a talk we attended in Japan: "Even if you were the best salesman in the world, you could only affect a limited number of people. But if you wrote software to do the same thing, using tailored persuasion strategies, you could theoretically apply that to thousands of people at once." This is why Amazon can act as a mom-and-pop shop, giving you recommendations and personalized services as your corner store would.
- Captology is novel--but that's wearing off. In some of our studies, we were worried about users being persuaded simply because of the novelty of seeing things on a PDA, mobile phone, or computer screen. It's true--novelty is a powerful factor for persuading because it puts people in ambiguous situations where they look to external cues for guidance. We know from the literature that people are dramatically more susceptible when they are in novel on ambiguous situations. But we've been noticing that the novelty is wearing off quickly; people are familiar with most technologies now. In any case, novelty is a poor persuasion technique for long-term change. What this means is that captology designers have to go back to basics and read the persuasion literature to guide their designs. There are literally thousands and thousands of studies examining the details of persuasion. Did you know, for example, that group members who have to work extremely hard to join a group overvalue that group? Do you know which is more effective in persuasion, speaking first or last? Do you know how to induce (and resist) conformity? The literature is very clear on these questions. As captology designers, we can't just depend on novelty any more (plus it's fairly useless for inducing long-term change).
- Captology lets us rapidly test persuasion. If we implement a new captology design, we can distribute it to hundreds of people, test the design, analyze the findings, and iterate very quickly. With traditional persuasion, you can't do that. This isn't to say that captology is better or worse than traditional persuasion--there are different places for each. For example, your local Tiffany's Jewellers will probably always have human persuaders. But captology is different in the sense that testing and iterating becomes very easy and quick.
Posted by at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 06, 2005
NetFlix uses persuasive technology and I don't like it
At the intersection of captology and business is a tricky space where the ethics are sometimes murky. Netflix, the online video service, has entered it head-on. It turns out that they use their customer database to treat certain customers preferentially; if you're new, you'll get more movies faster. Why? It turns out that Netflix loses money if a customer rents more than 5 movies per month. As a result, if Mr. Joe Customer rents too many movies, he'll notice that his movies are being shipped and processed much slower and, theoretically, he'll be less likely to order more movies. Some enterprising people actually tested this and found it to be true:An Analysis of Netflix's DVD Allocation System
Netflix Calculator Why are we so turned off by what Netflix is doing? Part of the reason is what psychologists call framing, or how something is presented to us. Just as there was an uproar when Coke floated the idea of charging more on hot days, Netflix can't win many points by taking something away from its customers. (Coke should have lowered the price on cold days, thus benefiting consumers, at least in perception.) It's also unfortunate that they're changing behavior by constraining options instead of giving us more choices. I know there are business concerns here, but maybe there's a better way. If I were Netflix, I'd do a few things:
- Frame the early shipping as a benefit of going with Netflix.
- Market to customers that you're the scrappy underdog (against Amazon and Blockbuster) and you're working day and night to beat them. Everybody loves an underdog, after all. I'd probably test this before a nationwide launch.
- Rather than intentionally slowing processing/delivery service, think about what other services you could offer that would satisfy your customers and keep them occupied. Instead of using your considerable technology to focus on your "bad" customers--the ones who rent a lot--look at them as an opportunity for a premium service of ultra-quick processing and delivery.
Posted by at 11:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NetFlix uses persuasive technology and I don't like it
At the intersection of captology and business is a tricky space where the ethics are sometimes murky. Netflix, the online video service, has entered it head-on. It turns out that they use their customer database to treat certain customers preferentially; if you're new, you'll get more movies faster. Why? It turns out that Netflix loses money if a customer rents more than 5 movies per month. As a result, if Mr. Joe Customer rents too many movies, he'll notice that his movies are being shipped and processed much slower and, theoretically, he'll be less likely to order more movies. Some enterprising people actually tested this and found it to be true:Why are we so turned off by what Netflix is doing? Part of the reason is what psychologists call framing, or how something is presented to us. Just as there was an uproar when Coke floated the idea of charging more on hot days, Netflix can't win many points by taking something away from its customers. (Coke should have lowered the price on cold days, thus benefiting consumers, at least in perception.) It's also unfortunate that they're changing behavior by constraining options instead of giving us more choices. I know there are business concerns here, but maybe there's a better way. If I were Netflix, I'd do a few things:
- Frame the early shipping as a benefit of going with Netflix.
- Market to customers that you're the scrappy underdog (against Amazon and Blockbuster) and you're working day and night to beat them. Everybody loves an underdog, after all. I'd probably test this before a nationwide launch.
- Rather than intentionally slowing processing/delivery service, think about what other services you could offer that would satisfy your customers and keep them occupied. Instead of using your considerable technology to focus on your "bad" customers--the ones who rent a lot--look at them as an opportunity for a premium service of ultra-quick processing and delivery.
Posted by at 11:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack