Persuasive Technology

ers can predict what a user is likely to buy or do and make recommendations to

the user based on that. Sometimes I go to Amazon to buy a single CD and end

up buying a few different titles because the site made excellent recommenda

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tions. (To me, getting targeted recommendations feels like a service, not a hard

sell, but others may find this “service” intrusive.)

4. Computers Can Use Many Modalities

Often people are influenced not by information itself but by how it’s pre

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sented—the modality. Human beings can convey information in many modes,

but we cannot match the variety of modes available to a computing system.

To persuade, computers can present data and graphics, rich audio and

video, animation, simulation, or hyperlinked content.

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The ability ...