Drew B's take on tech PR

Quantified Self UK - gadgets, geeks and the next frontier for marketers

About eight years ago I found out I was going to start my first senior job role, as an account director in a global PR agency. I had just read a 'self help' book (as my wife calls them) called Getting Things Done. The now cult text gave me inspiration to work more efficiently by applying life hacks (or rules to get more out of yourself) such as the three inbox rule, one list rule, two minute action rule, and so on and so on. I still live by those same rules now. 

Since then I have read endless books of a similar nature, I devour blogs and twitter feeds about lifehacking, I have more recently been using phone apps to track my running performance, sleep patterns and I scrutinise any data I can find about myself so that I can improve how I do things. Think Nike Fuelband. 

My colleague Stephen Davies this week pointed out to me that this behaviour has a name, and its own movement. It's called Quantified Self (also known as #selftracking). He sent me some articles that, when I read them, seemed to describe my life over recent years. I discovered there are even London Meetups around the Quantified Self movement. 

If this all makes sense to you too but you're also new to the term, here is some background reading in The Economist, The Guardian, TechCrunch & Fastcompany.

And if you're in the UK, go join the London Meetup group for Quantified Self.

There's no shortage of gadgetry or apps that are nudging this along. What I think we'll begin to see a lot more of is the application of this big data in marketing and consumer insights. 

Instagram + Polaroids = Polargrams (from Firebox.com)

I got sent a lovely, surprising pressie in the post this week. The nice people at Firebox.com have given me a sneak peak of their new product, Polargrams. 

Polargrams are Polaroids of your Instagram pics. Here's my collection!:

It was cool to see what pics I'd taken recently (my Instagram feed is open, like a curated version of my Facebook pics) and they make a lovely addition to my desk. Thanks Firebox for the pressie. Really niceidea!

[obvious disclaimer: these were given to me as a promo item, I didn't ask for them but love them and think they'r ace]

UPDATED: Project Play - I am now going to game everything

Last week at an event I spoke at I was asked a fascinating question by a member of the audience: "where are all these new Foursquare users coming from? I thought it had died a death?"

My answer was what I thought was the reality - I said that recording and publishing info about your life is becoming more socially acceptible. But then I realised I was just a statistic. After being an early proponent of location based social media services, I had recently dropped off the radar myself. Not new or shiny any more. 

But in the last few weeks something changed. Don't know why, but I started gaming things more. I started playing more Foursquare not for the networking, but to get points, go up the leaderboard, earn badges, level-ups and mayorships. This side of things hadn't mattered to much to me previously but recently that changed. 

Why? (I think this is why but I'm not too sure...) Life streaming tech in general has been interesting me more, from the much-hyped Nike Fuelband to my Runkeeper app to the Quantified Self movement. The way our agency business is at the moment too, we're doing a lot of playing, building and gaming. I'm just practicing what we preach really.

So excuse my social stream at the moment, especially Twitter and Foursquare. I'm trying to game everything I can lay my hands on, just to see how it makes a difference to things in general. (and as always, I'll update this blog as I learn new tricks along the way).

So here goes what I hope will at the very leas be a fun little project of play!!!1

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Update: 3rd July

After two months of gaming everything, I have some learnings I thought I would share. I mainly gamed Foursquare and apps, gadgets and widgets that score your body data.

• I have become seriously addicted to body data. I now carry gadgets around with me everywhere I go that are effectively gaming my health (and I like this as it's working as inspiration). I have started a new blog about body data and it has become a new business area for our agency. This is niche right now, but speak to some of my colleagues and they're willing to bet everything that it will be bigger than you imagine. Also, Foursquare links into Fitbit which is one of the body data gadgets I have bought and use. The opportunities here I think are really exciting
• I found Foursquare as a network and a game much more multi-dimensional than before. I used to use Foursquare for adding a bit of extra functionality to my Twitter use (ie pinging friends when I'm close by, seeing who's where) and also for crowdsourcing (ie lists and discovery). What I have now discovered is that the gaming side of Foursquare (the points, badges and mayorships) is as addictive as any social game. More than that, you end up changing things in real life as a result too, like your commute, where you get lunch, whether you walk or take the tube... it's the ultimate ARG 
• Point scoring on Foursquare takes 1-2 months to build. It took me a month to start getting a good number of badges and mayorships, as I had to reinforce my patterns and outpace others. After that the points got higher and higher. A good week would net me 200 points, a crazy week 300. Then when I saw a colleague get 400+ points, the only time I've ever seen someone I know get so high
• After two months of pretty addictive behaviour I have reached a 7-day high score of 500. This has been described by some I have mentioned it to as 'insane'. And I have found that I have been using Foursquare a little too often for comfort
• There are haters. My gaming habits have attracted derision from some. People who are either not into gaming themselves or not in a position where it's relevant to their jobs tend to write to me telling me what they think. Whis is nice :/
• Finally, the new Foursquare (a relaunch happened last month) is much, much more of a social network than before. Much more conversation happening on there than before. 

I have said to colleagues that I'm now going to retire from Foursquare, having completed this intense gaming experiment. I'm not really, but I will stop gaming the game. The social side of it I will continue, and the body data I certainly will.

Insights from digital mavens on the future of email: put it away

If you are someone who does battle with multiple inboxes, feeds, flashing lights on your unread messages and buzzing phones in meetings because someone has checked in near you, here are a couple of high profile blog posts you may want to read. 

I've taken the topic of email's general unsuitability to the modern business as something of a crusade over recent years (perhaps it's why I embrace everything else so much?). Here are a couple of my posts from 2008, 2009 and 2010. Every time I step away from my inbox for a meeting I return to hundreds of emails. I get thousands every day and use a heavy dose of rules and filters to try to deal with it all. Thankfully I'm not alone. 

Foursquare's Tristan Walker's post 'I hate email' is all about taking email off your phone and the impact of that on your focus at work and home.

TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler's post 'Email. Archive it all. Immediately' is about emptying your inbox to see the wood from the trees. 'Best thing I've ever done' says Siegler. 

Some great insights and I'll be trying both myself.