What is User Engagement?

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 and Technology, 59(6), 938-955. doi:10.1002/asi.20801

In this journal article, O’Brien and Toms focus on the key components that constitute user engagement with technology to come up with an elaborate definition of the term engagement. As per their findings, the authors conceptualize user engagement as the quality of user experience that is described by various attributes such as sensory appeal, attention, feedback, interactivity, and positive affect (p.23).  The authors theorize engagement as a continuous process that is characterized by relational aspects pertaining to a specific user. This means that what might be appealing to one user may not necessarily capture the attention of another. From this perspective, it is clear that a leader’s social media voice can greatly influence the engagement level of users with a particular online platform. For example, since Donald Trump has the habit of tweeting insults and offensive jokes, some of his supporters have become disengaged with Twitter to the extent of quitting the social media platform so that they can avoid the endless dramas of the leader.

‍