The term capology is derived from an acronym for the phrase computers as persuasive technologies.

And this acronym, and the phrase and resultant new word, were coined by the behavioral scientist Dr. B.J. Fogg,

with two Gs, a man who, among other things, is credited with having identified, outlined, and weaponized the modern

consumer technology industry's ability to persuade and even manipulate the users of those technologies.

Dr. Fogg founded the persuasive technology lab at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California in 1998.

And that lab really hit its stride leading up to 2007, when he taught a class on the subject

of building persuasion into one software, and encouraged all of his 75 students that year to

produce apps for Facebook's relatively new platform, which allowed

outside programmers to create add-ons for their social network. Many of those students made gobs

of money before the class had even finished, and that success led to a boom in the popularity

of the class, and for fog, and for the concept of building

these sorts of subtle manipulating factors into one's work. Perhaps the most famous of Dr. Fogg's

successes today, one that he still touts in interviews that he does and on his website as well,

is that of Instagram, which was founded by

a student of his, and the success of this network would seem to be at least in part attributable

to what the student and founder learned from Fogg. From a piece published on Fogg's website,

quote, Instagram has influenced the behavior of over 800 million people.

The co-founder was a student of mine.

End quote.

Fogg's public work on this subject spans about two decades, so he's one of the better-known

names in the world of persuasive technology, but he's nowhere near the only person

doing research and applying

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