What is user engagement? A conceptual framework for defining user engagement with technology

The purpose of this article is to critically deconstruct the term engagement as it applies to peoples' experiences with technology. Through an extensive, critical multidisciplinary literature review and exploratory study of users of Web searching, online shopping, Webcasting, and gaming applications, we conceptually and operationally defined engagement. Building on past research, we conducted semistructured interviews with the users of four applications to explore their perception of being engaged with the technology. Results indicate that engagement is a process comprised of four distinct stages: point of engagement, period of sustained engagement, disengagement, and reengagement. Furthermore, the process is characterized by attributes of engagement that pertain to the user, the system, and user-system interaction. We also found evidence of the factors that contribute to nonengagement. Emerging from this research is a definition of engagement—a term not defined consistently in past work—as a quality of user experience characterized by attributes of challenge, positive affect, endurability, aesthetic and sensory appeal, attention, feedback, variety/novelty, interactivity, and perceived user control. This exploratory work provides the foundation for future work to test the conceptual model in various application areas, and to develop methods to measure engaging user experiences. INTRODUCTION In the past few decades, human-computer interaction studies have emphasized the need to move beyond usability to understand and design for more engaging experiences (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006; Jacques, Preece, & Carey, 1995; Laurel, 1993). A Web interface that is boring, a multimedia presentation that does not captivate users' attention, or an online forum that fails to engender a sense of community are quickly dismissed with a simple mouse click. Failing to engage users equates with no sale on an electronic commerce site and no transmission of information from a Web site; people go elsewhere to perform their tasks and communicate with colleagues and friends. Successful technologies are not just usable; they engage users. Despite the 1 This is the authors’ version of an article published in Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, http://www.asis.org/jasist.html. This version has been updated to reflect changes in the final published version. Complete citation is as follows: O’Brien, H.L. & Toms, E.G. (2008). What is user engagement? A conceptual framework for defining user engagement with technology. Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 59(6), 938955. DOI: 10.1002/asi.20801.