Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Why People Use Chatbots

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Internet Science (INSCI 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 10673))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

There is a growing interest in chatbots, which are machine agents serving as natural language user interfaces for data and service providers. However, no studies have empirically investigated people’s motivations for using chatbots. In this study, an online questionnaire asked chatbot users (N = 146, aged 16–55 years) from the US to report their reasons for using chatbots. The study identifies key motivational factors driving chatbot use. The most frequently reported motivational factor is “productivity”; chatbots help users to obtain timely and efficient assistance or information. Chatbot users also reported motivations pertaining to entertainment, social and relational factors, and curiosity about what they view as a novel phenomenon. The findings are discussed in terms of the uses and gratifications theory, and they provide insight into why people choose to interact with automated agents online. The findings can help developers facilitate better human–chatbot interaction experiences in the future. Possible design guidelines are suggested, reflecting different chatbot user motivations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Dale, R.: The return of the chatbots. Nat. Lang. Eng. 22(5), 811–817 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Følstad, A., Brandtzaeg, P.B.: Chatbots – the new world of HCI. ACM Interactions (2017, in Press)

    Google Scholar 

  3. USA Today: Microsoft CEO Nadella: “Bots are the new apps” (2016). https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/30/microsof-ceo-nadella-bots-new-apps/82431672/

  4. Xu, A., Liu, Z., Guo, Y., Sinha, V., Akkiraju, R.: A new chatbot for customer service on social media. In: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ferrara, E., Varol, O., Davis, C., Menczer, F., Flammini, A.: The Rise of Social Bots. arXiv preprint arXiv:1407.5225 (2014)

  6. Simonite, T.: Facebook’s Perfect, Impossible Chatbot. MIT Technology Review (2017) https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604117/facebooks-perfect-impossible-chatbot/

  7. Coniam, D.: The linguistic accuracy of chatbots: usability from an ESL perspective. Text Talk 34(5), 545–567 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Malhotra, Y., Galletta, D.F., Kirsch, L.J.: How endogenous motivations influence user intentions: beyond the dichotomy of extrinsic and intrinsic user motivations. J. Manag. Inform. Syst. 25(1), 267–300 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Weizenbaum, J.: ELIZA—a computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine. Commun. ACM 9(1), 36–45 (1966)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Shah, H., Warwick, K., Vallverdú, J., Wu, D.: Can machines talk? Comparison of ELIZA with modern dialogue systems. Comput. Hum. Behav. 58, 278–295 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Vinyals, O., Le, Q.: A Neural Conversational Model. arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.05869 (2015)

  12. Venturebeat (2016). https://venturebeat.com/2016/08/25/niki-ais-new-messenger-bot-lets-you-hail-cabs-and-order-snacks-in-india/

  13. James, G.: A Complete Guide to Chatbots (2016). http://www.garethjames.net/complete-guide-chatbots/

  14. Hill, J., Ford, W.R., Farreras, I.G.: Real conversations with artificial intelligence: a comparison between human-human online conversations and human-chatbot conversations. Comput. Hum. Behav. 49, 245–250 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Corti, K., Gillespie, A.: Co-constructing intersubjectivity with artificial conversational agents: people are more likely to initiate repairs of misunderstandings with agents represented as human. Comput. Hum. Behav. 58, 431–442 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Holtgraves, T.M., Ross, S.J., Weywadt, C.R., Han, T.L.: Perceiving artificial social agents. Comput. Hum. Behav. 23(5), 2163–2174 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. De Angeli, A., Johnson, G.I., Coventry, L.: The unfriendly user: exploring social reactions to chatterbots. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Affective Human Factors Design, London, pp. 467–474 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Rubin, A.M.: Uses and gratifications. In: Nabi, R.L., Oliver, M.B. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Media Processes and Effects, pp. 147–159. Sage, Washington, D.C. (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Stafford, T.F., Stafford, M.R., Schkade, L.L.: Determining uses and gratifications for the internet. Decis. Sci. 35(2), 259–288 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Katz, E., Blumler, J.G., Gurevitch, M.: Utilization of mass communication by the individual. In: Blumler, J.G., Katz, E. (eds.) The Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications Research, pp. 19–32. Sage, Beverly Hills (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Joinson, A.N.: Looking at, looking up or keeping up with people?: Motives and use of Facebook. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1027–1036. ACM Press (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Sundar, S.S., Limperos, A.M.: Uses and grats 2.0: new gratifications for new media. J. Broadcast. Electron. 57(4), 504–525 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Rogers, E.M.: Diffusion of Innovations. Simon and Schuster, New York (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Brandtzæg, P.B., Heim, J.: Why people use social networking sites. In: Ozok, A.A., Zaphiris, P. (eds.) OCSC 2009. LNCS, vol. 5621, pp. 143–152. Springer, Heidelberg (2009). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02774-1_16

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  25. Brandtzaeg, P.B., Haugestveit, I.M., Lüders, M., Følstad, A.: How should organizations adapt to youth civic engagement in social media? A lead user approach. Interact. Comput. 28(5), 664–679 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Foley, C.: The art of wasting time: sociability, friendship, community and holidays. Leisure Stud. 36(1), 1–20 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Tsakonas, G., Papatheodorou, C.: Exploring usefulness and usability in the evaluation of open access digital libraries. Inf. Process. Manag. 44(3), 1234–1250 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Thackara, J.: The Design Challenge of Pervasive Computing. CHI (2000). http://www.doorsofperception.com/projects/chi/

  29. Monk, A.F.: User-centred design: the home use challenge. In: Sloane, A., van Rijn, F. (eds.) Home Informatics and Telematics: Information Technology and Society, pp. 181–190. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  30. McQuail, D.: Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction, 2nd edn. Sage, London (1987)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This study is funded by the research project Human-Chatbot Interaction Design, supported by the Research Council of Norway, IKTPLUSS (p.nr 270940).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SINTEF, Forskningsveien 1, 0314, Oslo, Norway

    Petter Bae Brandtzaeg & Asbjørn Følstad

Authors
  1. Petter Bae Brandtzaeg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Asbjørn Følstad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Petter Bae Brandtzaeg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CERTH, Information Technologies Institute, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Ioannis Kompatsiaris

  2. University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom

    Jonathan Cave

  3. CERTH, Information Technologies Institute, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Anna Satsiou

  4. Technical University Munich, Garching, Germany

    Georg Carle

  5. T6 Ecosystems, Rome, Italy

    Antonella Passani

  6. CERTH, Information Technologies Institute, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Efstratios Kontopoulos

  7. CERTH, Information Technologies Institute, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Sotiris Diplaris

  8. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Donald McMillan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Brandtzaeg, P.B., Følstad, A. (2017). Why People Use Chatbots. In: Kompatsiaris, I., et al. Internet Science. INSCI 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10673. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70284-1_30

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70284-1_30

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70283-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70284-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation