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Owl: symbol of wisdom, knowledge, transformation, and good luck. Could I expect any more New Year’s news to silently pop into my inbox? But sadly, the owl in question is not a member of Athena’s family, as the ancient Greeks were said to be. , swooping low over my personal battlefield to signal impending victory in the ongoing battle. No, this creature is an animated Kermit Green, but he’s way too loud and surprisingly emotionally unstable.
Of course, I’m referring to Duo. The personification of madness that follows users of the language learning app Duolingo. Its big eyes, cute beak, bushy wings, and arc-shaped master of emotional manipulation. As the last person in my family and social circle to sign up, I enrolled in an Italian course on Duolingo on my smartphone this summer. Since then, he has started flapping his tail and making buzzing noises.
The subject field of the email deviates from “I didn’t see you last week!” “Your Italian skills are moldy” (with a gagging emoji). Even more extreme is when the duo cries in earnest over being dumped. Those big eyes certainly fill up quickly, but us emotionless humans expect, “You made Duo sad, but he continued to learn without you.” Should.
One of the tactics employed when taking a break is to feel bad if your rival is ahead of you. It will show you how many words and phrases you can collect. A scolding can be softened with a little hand-holding. “Duo believes in you…don’t give up”. The company also employs other animated characters that appear in language lesson scenarios to tempt me. What about a message like this? “So keep learning Italian, or quit,” said the frosty purple-haired woman with cynical hooded eyes known as Lily. According to a fan site, he is “an introverted, unenthusiastic, and expressionless Goth teen who is secretly concerned about him.”
Clearly, the company’s system sensed my own stupidity in response. Because the follow-up message includes a melting face and a new attitude of “Am I too strong?”
Yes, Duo, it definitely is. When I was a teenager, this type of behavior was referred to by the term “junk mongering.” But the team at headquarters is adamant about calling him “our friendly mascot” (and indeed, I checked, he “identifies as male”). With January’s awful self-improvement pressures upon us, I thought we might learn a little more about motivation from all of this.
When I asked, Duolingo charmingly said that deliberately passive-aggressive messages have been proven to be “one of the most effective messages for getting people to continue learning.” He told me. They sent me chapters and verses on their “how gamification works.” This is the justification for why they repeatedly release owls on people. Simply put, the company says this works to “significantly improve retention” for most, or at least enough, people. Everything from the frequency and tone of Duo’s notifications, from remorse to aggressive aspects, has been A/B tested on groups of learners.
After consulting with friends and colleagues, I felt a sense of overachievement at a rather unpleasant level. So many boasted of unbroken records (earning credit and accolades with daily practice), but also had stories of fear of losing them. My kids introduced me to the world of online memes where Duo comically harasses people. The company’s own parody marketing promoting the non-existent show “Duolingo on Ice” (featuring musical numbers such as Spanish and Vanish) includes a scene in which a terrified woman cries, “My son has been taken away!” is included. When the owl skates away.
This kind of self-deprecating humor can only be used if the strategy works. I think most people would probably at least tolerate being very roughly “nudged” towards self-improvement.
Not all of us respond well to being followed. But January is a time for new starts, so today I gave in to the never-ending nagging of a feathered person. I took another frustrating Italian lesson and once again negotiated a discount on my backpack. If Duo and Lily go to the Uffizi Gallery with me and talk about Botticelli, maybe we can get along better. But what about A/B testing? Maybe for clumsy customers like me, they might give it a try. Buon anno a tutti!
miranda.green@ft.com
