This is absolutely reasonable for a university level class.

It would go over:

1. Rhetoric

2. Historical methods of propaganda

3. How propaganda spreads

4. "Virality in communication networks" (https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Produc...)

5. Gossip

6. Tactics of Manipulation (48 laws of power is a good recording of this)

7. Strategizing on cognitive basis.

I'm reminded of this book: "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal (BTW I'm not endorsing this book).

4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon after 1,100 reviews.

From the description:

"... by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging."

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/d...

We build 'addictive' products by design. Our children should be protected. I'm in the process of saying 'No' to my kids requests for phones and access to online services.

> And the part about wanting to create an "addictive experience"! About a door lock!

It actually made me LOL. Sounds like someone read https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Produc... and tried to apply gained knowledge to a door lock.

I´ve read a book recently called "Hooked" by Nir Eyal. https://www.amazon.de/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Product... It´s exactly about this topic. He also gives quite a few examples of the achievements of Apple and so on. Really interesting.

but they are clearly designed to be a drug.. under the guise of a tool:

https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Produc...

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/07/what-...

It's not a problem per-se IMO, but Facebook is highly optimized for being addictive. They A/B test the addiction out of it!

There's a GREAT book that I am careful recommending as indeed I think it explores ideas that can be abused easily: Hooked, how to build habit-forming products ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Prod... )

I will refer the techniques mentioned by _Nir Eyal_ in his book "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products". The

* Trigger

* Actions

* Rewards (variable rewards)

Ref book on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ngLIuz

"Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal - I'm reading it myself. I think it's really useful for those doing product development/management and building user engagement.

http://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Product...