Too tense for candy crush: affect influences user engagement with proactively suggested content

Abstract

Push notifications are increasingly being used to engage users with app content. In the present research, we propose that users' current affect (i.e., how they are feeling) should be a critical---yet underexplored---factor in user engagement. Participants (N = 337) downloaded a custom-developed app that delivered notifications. After attending to a notification (N = 32,704), participants reported how they felt and chose whether to engage with further content; they could choose between mentally demanding or simple/diverting tasks. When feeling good, people were less likely to engage with mentally demanding tasks. When feeling calm, people were more likely to engage with diverting tasks. When feeling energetic, people were less likely to respond to distractions altogether. These findings provide a tantalizing first glimpse into how affect predicts the kind of content users choose to engage with, paving the way for the use of affect in the design of notification systems.