Wise Up by Tapping Smartphones

We learn what consumers will want by analyzing information they generate, either without their awareness that we’re probing or in response to our transparent requests. University of Pennsylvania researchers recommend for both types, we tap into what people tell via their smartphones. Social media posts, product and service reviews, and open-ended responses to survey questions all show extra candor there.
     Why smartphones? Because, to start with, people disclose more about themselves when communicating on a computer than in person. It’s not so much that the people provide a greater abundance of information. Generally, people are less verbose on the computer device. Instead, it’s that what people do write and say on the computer device is more candid.
     A personal smartphone moves this further along than does a personal computer (PC), the researchers found. We hold the smartphone close as we talk into it or type words and symbols into it. We don’t do that with a PC. When using a smartphone, we narrow our attention and experience a sense of privacy.
     In a prior study, participants were exposed to a stressful task and then asked to use a computer device. Those assigned to use their smartphone afterwards reported feeling higher relief than did another group who had been assigned to use a PC. Our informal, intimate conversations conducted across a distance generally occur on telephones. It’s significant that, in the studies, the candor advantage of the smartphone did not hold when the smartphone being used after the stressful task belonged to somebody else. It’s the personal attachment which makes the difference.
     One of the current studies analyzed tweets which, by a tag on the item, could be identified as coming either from a smartphone or from a personal computer. The linguistic markers of self-disclosure included expression of strong emotions, references to family and friends, use of the first-person pronouns “I” and “me,” and self-focused storytelling. Additional studies analyzed TripAdvisor reviews and responses to survey requests for potentially embarrassing information. In all these, content entered via smartphone showed greater self-disclosure than did that entered via a PC.
     A general lesson from all this is that different devices might produce different results. For instance, given the choice between a fruit salad and a slice of cheesecake as a reward for study participation, those using a touchscreen veered toward the cheesecake compared to those required to mouse-click a computer screen to choose.

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