I recently read an article explaining a program that allows companies to know when you are shopping online. With it being cyber Monday and all I found this intriguing. The program is called Powerfront. It not only allows companies to see and track when you are shopping but allows them to chat with online shoppers. The program processes millions of customers a day. When someone is online shopping, the program produces avatars with the country flag. If a customer service agent desires, they can click on an avatar and know the IP address, past purchases, location, and sometimes more information. A user does not need to be registered on the company site for the program to know this information.
When online shopping there will sometimes be the option to chat with a representative. On high end websites such as Gucci and Sephora, the user is not chatting with a bot, but with a customer service agent. Powerfront allows the customer service agent to see what the user is typing before they even send it. In addition, the program tracks the emotions of the customer based on words, cursor movement, and other data. When the customer becomes frustrated it reflects in their avatar.
After reading this article it has made me think more about online shopping. Most people know their data is being recorded on the internet, but I think this is slightly more extreme. The article phrased the program as having a “God’s eye view.” Before companies only had access to limited information, but now there is so much more at their fingertips. The idea of having an online chat being analyzed for emotions is intriguing. Usually, I think of online conversations as having a lack of emotions because it is behind a screen. However, this program brings emotion back into online interaction. In person interactions allow the person to be able to tell how a person is feeling, but online interactions do not. Emojis is a way of introducing emotion into online conversations, but this is with the user’s knowledge. Using this program, the user does not know this is happening.
The internet is a hidden web where the user is not always fully aware of what is going on behind the screen. I think it is important that this information is shared with the user. This new technology shows the lengths data tracking can be taken to.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/26/style/powerfront-software-ecommerce-cartoons.html?auth=login-google&login=google