Cognitive App and Brand Experiences
Smartphone apps have become a huge source of content and are becoming more complex every day. Some of these apps are beginning to use cognitive experiences, ones to simulate human thought to make the in-app experiences better for users. This way people get the most out of the app every time they use it. While there are plenty of cognitive experiences, I want to point a few important ones that I enjoy using.
The idea behind this app is that people can communicate quick thoughts in 280 characters or less and the best to take advantage of these “tweets” is to follow the right people. This is where the cognitive experience comes into play because Twitter is constantly offering up suggestions of who to follow based on the group of people you currently follow and the tweets that you “like”. I mainly use Twitter for sports news and content, and every day I find new players, coaches, and media members based on a cognitive experience to follow. Furthermore, these suggestions are based on teams that I like or sports shows that I enjoy watching on TV. The ability for Twitter to suggest new people has made the app more diverse and fun for my personal interests.
Netflix
Netflix is a popular video streaming app which has led to many people binge-watching their favorite movies and TV shows. The app really became interesting to me when they began to suggest content that I would enjoy watching. The suggestions are based on videos that I’ve previously watched, and the best part is that each suggestion is clearly justified and is given a prediction score to tell me if I would like the video or not. These scores come from all users thoughts on the videos and if they would recommend it to other people. The Netflix library is large, but this algorithm to predict shows or movies is a nice way to find other content which would be interesting.
Duolingo
I’ve used this app to try and learn a new language whenever I have some free time. It is a very smart app because it is able to identify what my weaknesses are and constantly reinforce the ideas so I can improve. Furthermore, its new chat feature allows for dialogue with an AI and provides instant feedback on how well the conversation went. When I tried to learn Italian (which I had 0 knowledge of beforehand), the courses moved very slowly and focusing on the fundamentals of the language. However, when I tried to improve my Spanish skills (I had taken a few classes in high school, so I knew a little bit), the app knew I could handle a lot and moved me through the courses quickly. The daily reminders to keep my “streak” alive were extremely helpful, and they even stopped once the app figured out I didn’t have much free time to learn more.
Pandora
The Pandora app is a music streaming service similar to Spotify, but it has radio stations which play songs based on what the user wants to listen to and previous feedback on songs. Every time a song is played, the app takes into account which songs the user has “liked” and “disliked” to queue up the perfect song to hear based on the current station. This feedback will improve the radio station so that the music is always perfect. I believe that Pandora has a tougher job than Spotify because the suggested song will automatically play for the user when the current song is done being listened to. It’s an interesting concept that gets better with more data and user interaction.
Brand Experience: Whataburger
My favorite brand experience is also my favorite restaurant, which is Whataburger. This fast food chain is based in the southern United States and was created in Texas. This brand emphasizes the Texan attitude with massive burgers and soft drinks, along with the right at home feeling. Ever since I could drive, I would spend most of my Friday nights during high school at Whataburger with my closest friends. Whenever I eat there, I have a feeling of comfort and relaxation because of all the great memories and delicious food. Every employee I have interacted with has been nice and helpful, which reinforces the good connection I have with Whataburger. And the experience goes beyond the restaurant because the company Twitter account is very active and constantly engaging with their followers. I still remember the moment that account began to follow me and I was so happy because this brand felt like my friend which I could be comfortable with. Finally, their advertising always includes customer and employee reviews of the food, and I really enjoy this because they keep things simple and focus on the people that they make happy with their food.
