Week 2 | Leveille

At first I wasn’t sure whether I should use the New York Times website or Amazon.com. I finally settled on Amazon when I read:

How texts are used becomes more important than what they mean. Someone clicked here to get over there. Someone who bought this also bought that. The interactive environment not only provides users with a degree of control and self-direction but also, more quietly and insidiously, it gathers data about its audiences (Lupton 73).

Amazon does exactly what the quote describes. If you look at the front page of the site, you can see the audience is automatically introduced by ads – one about the Kindle and another about Crest 3D White. The search bar is placed so it can’t be missed, which allows users to search for a product fairly easily. Users can also search by department rather than by product. Below the Kindle ad, there is also a list of products that “customers are currently looking at right now.” After searching for products, if you go back to the homepage, a list of recommended products also pops up. All of these methods to look for products provides accessible for all sorts of users that might visit the page looking for something to buy.

I clicked on the first product – a Third Generation Apple iPod Touch – just to show what else Amazon has to offer. to its customers Throughout the entire page, the user can find information about a specific product he or she is looking at: the price, shipping costs, images, what other customers have bought, product details and descriptions, ratings, and comments from customers who have that particular product. All of this information gives a potential customer the answers needed before making the final decision to buy a product. The customer not only has general information but public opinion as well. The site is designed in such a way that it is both accessible and helps the customer make the right choice before buying something.