Drew B's take on tech PR

A look at the Kifit and Fitbit selftracking systems: my #dataporn test

[update 10th August 2012: I have added Nike Fuelband as a third system to compare]

An evolution in digital that I've been following is the selftracking movement, otherwise known as body data, quantified self or life hacking. It's the application of the kind of analytics you'd get on your blog or social network to your day to day life. It started with progressive apps, like Nike + and Runkeeper, and more recently has spawned accessories like Withings, Nike Fuelband and countless more. 

I've been spending the last few weeks testing a range of these products. Things help you learn from your exercise, movements and your routine. I'm using them for a few reasons. Some work projects are involving this area of healthtech / body data. There are also close links with social media and location based social networks. And I'm also trying to stay healthy. 

Here is a review of two products I've been using the most that seem to be near the top in the market, Kifit and Fitbit, with a focus on the digital bits they churn out: the data porn. 

KiFit

Kifit offer a range of devices and data packages. I had the Kifit Armband Monitor and Online Activity Manager. The claims to capture 5,000 data points per minute. You strap it to your bicep and leave it there all day, then plug into your computer to get the readouts. Here's a snapshot of what my body data looks like from the Kifit system:

Benefits of Kifit

• Amazing data which is exportable and dynamic
• Accurate. Measures more than Fitbit

Down sides of Kifit

• I couldn't wear it evey day. It needs to be strapped to your bicep so is impracitcal for my day to day life
• More expensive that Fitbit
• No east to use readout which you get with the in-your-pocket Fitbit. You can buy that feature as an optional display for £60

Fitbit

Fitbit is a system including apps and gadgets. I am using the Fitbit Ultra Wireless Tracker, a small, USB stick-sized gadget that is essentially a stepometer with a basic display that shows your steps, calories, flight of stairs and other bits and pieces. You keep it in your pocket or clip it to your clothes and it tracks your steps. Here is the data I get from my Fitbit: 

Benefits of Fitbit

• Easy to use. You keep it in your pocket. 
• Rough numbers give you incentive to keep up the steps or calories
• Growing app ecosystem
• Appears to have a good following and I can see further enhancement in the future
• Less expensive than Kifit

Down sides of Fitbit

• Inaccurate. It counts driving in a car as walking / jogging, and I use the car every day (approx 1,000 false steps are counted every day)
• Data is not very rich compared to Kifit
• Service was poor when ordering. Fitbit boasts next day delivery. Even after chasing them by phone daily, it took them a week to deliver (and their PR agency had to intervene)

Consensus: The Kifit is better, more accurate, but less practical and quite pricey. Fitbit doesn't tell you much, and what it does tell you isn't too accurate, but if you want something easy to carry around and the data is still pretty interesting, it could be for you.

Disclaimer, both KiFit and Fitbit sent me these products for trial, although I had already purchased a Fitbit with my own money also.

Update 12th August 2012: O2 invited me to a joint event organised by them and Nike, and whilst I couldn't attent, my colleague Stephen did and he was given a Fuelband. He has since loaned it to me, so I thought I would post below my experiences of using the Fuelband compared to Kifit and Fitbit. 

I first read about the Nike Fuelband prior to its launch, through this video that launched it (love the video by the way!). I went to the Nike Town store in London on 1st May ready to part with the £129 it costs. However, trying it out, I realised the functionality was inferior to other alternatives right now and the price being higher, so I decided not to shell out. I also was more in favour of discrete self-tracking, or in other words, a device in my pocket rather than on my wrist. I bought the Fitbit online that evening when I got home. 

Since thenI've managed to get my hands on a Fuelband, so here are my thoughts on it versus the Kifit and Fitbit. First of all, here's how the data looks: 

Upsides of the Nike Fuelband: 

• Easy to see your points / calories / steps at a glance
• Doubles up as a watch
• Seems more accurate than the Fitbit (but less accurate than the Kifit)
• Integrates with Nike+ app (however I don't use this app)
• Syncs with your iPhone over bluetooth at the press of a button. This is good for giving you extra data on the move

Downsides of the Nike Fuelband:

• Pricey consideing the device itself is just a stepometer (£129 vs the more Fitbit which is both a stepometer and altitudometer at £89)
• You wear it on your wrist (a downside for me, but that's subjective)
• Does not track sleep
• Data is not anywhere near as powerful or exportable / manageable as Kifit or even Fitbit

How it compares in a nutshell: It's somewhere inbetween the Fitbit and the Kifit on price. Will appeal to the person who is less into the data. For me, it comes bottom of the three products sadly, but I do love it and have been wearing it out of choice for two weeks now. So it's not all that bad. 

Thanks for reading!

Jeremiah Owyang at Le Web 2012: faster than real time, body data and the sentient world

Jeremiah Owyang took to the stage this afternoon at Le Web and delivered a spellbinding talk on digital trends, how they are shaping consumer behaviour and how businesses can gain competitive advantage and innovate. 

I have followed Jeremiah's nuggets for many years, since before he joined Altimeter when he was one of the world's first social media analysts - at Forrester with Charlene Li. I was taken aback by Jeremiah's presenting style today. He talks fast and is well-drilled, moving fast from one concept to the next. It was really very much a mental roller coaster.

Jeremiah began by talking about how brands need to be anticipating digital trends - that this is what is required in order to capture opportunities and avoid the threat of being left behind. He talked about influences on consumer behaviour from media types, word of mouth, through various channels and on multiple platforms, from mobile to Google Glass. 

He then put forward a three business disruptions relevant in this debate. The dynamic customer, the adaptive enterprise and the sentient world. 

Jeremiah Owyang's three digital disruptions

To illustrate the dynamic customer journey, Jeremiah showed how Tesco ads on the Korean subway allow customers to scan and add products to online shopping baskets. He said that inflexible organisations need to adapt and synchronize for the changing customer. Questions they must answer: what sources of info should you track, and what should matter. A study by Eloqua says only 5% of companies are able to do this. 

The topic of the sentient world really captured my attention, as it's a topic that I'm very absorbed by right now through work and recent research. Jeremiah described this concept as a future 'when everything electronic around us comes alive' with internet-enabled devices powering society. This is commonly referred to as body data, quantified self and self tracking. Jeremiah also mentioned the Body API. 

In summary, some notes from Jeremiah's sentiend world talk:

• Everything electronic captures and gives off data
• The Pebble watch is a perfect example of the Body API manifest
• GE's 'moodometer' was shown as a case study
• Smart Pyjamas that sense human signals to keep babies healthy were also a case study
• Inamo was mentioned - the digital restaurant in London with Microsoft Surface tables
• Questions we must answer for the sentient world:

1. If everything gives off data, how will we sort the intelligence from the noise
2. How will we communicate with inanimate objects?
3. At what point does the new world become self-sufficient?

Probably because I'm on the same wavelength as Jeremiah Owyang, as in I get everything he's talking about, I found his talk hugely engaging. He is clearly a man with a brain the size of a planet though (that's where I would say we are not on similar wavelengths!) and I hope to be able to catch up with him again some day soon.

Le Web 2012 comes to London: liveblog

Today and tomorrow, Europe's big conference for all things digital arrives from France, where it has taken place for many years now, and lands in London. I'm at Le Web London right now. Having sat through most of the morning's sessions and walked the corridors, I can vouch for the importance of this event on the global calendar of events that you should mark as a must-go-to. As a first outing in London for Le Web, it's done well.

Pic: by me of the Le Web London Jamie Oliver talk

The morning's highlights: 

• Jamie Oliver took to the stage with the founder of Instagram, to talk about how the celeb chef has used the social web to build his business, and how Instagram users get inspired by food (there was a lot of love in the room for the Naked Chef)
• Google Plus announced Flipboard integration - Robert Scoble says this us huge
• Box announced European expansion and a London HQ
• Uber announced a European COO hire
• Hailo did a great job of fighting against some 'presenter abuse'
• Evernote's CEO Phil Libin talked about building a 100 year company and innovations that make you smarter (diclaimer: they're a client, they got me my ticket but I also have loved them for ever)

This afternoon's events have just kicked off. What's most interesting is that events like this are the rare moments when you get to meet everyone that is time poor all year. I'm geeky enough to find it terribly exciting to meet people like Robert Scoble, Michael Arrington, Mike Butcher, Shakil Khan and people like that.  

You can see live streams on YouTube here and follow the chatter on Twitter here. 

Body data, the internet of things, and future tech trends

If you've not yet come across the concept of the 'internet of things' then have a look at this video or read up on it here. It's been about for some years now and essentially describes how devices have become smarter, connected, and part of social media too. 

Now with the ubiquity of sensors and new applications for them, have a read of this article in the New York Times on the new technologies that will change the future. A lot of them are simply different applications of the internet of things, social media and body data. Think Kickstarter's famous Pebble Watch.

My nine personal favourite tech trends from the NYT feature all include sensors and body data: 

1. Electric clothes - sensors in your clothes that alter the fabric based on body data
2. Analytical undies - sensors in your pants that help you work out more efficiently
3. The congestion killer - auto cruise control that cuts traffic jams by creating a smart web of all cars 
4. The anti-slouch screen - computers that see your posture and adjust / tell you to adjust to improve your health
5. Your body, your login - devices that sense movement as a unique biometric password 
6. GPS shopping trollies - the trolley, your shopping list and alerts are connected to take you to the right parts of the shop and let retailers offer you better (cleverer!) deals
7. Teeth that think - sensors in your mouth that help oral hygiene based again on body data
8. Sleep mining - sensors that collect data to improve your health while you sleep
9. The constant gardener - GPS sensors that help farming and gardening to me more efficient and productive

New Foursquare and what it means for brands

People who care to read my ramblings already know I'm a Foursquare fan geek both for work purposes and personally. In case this is your first visit, here's why I'm a fan. 

I was involved in what many people view as the first Foursquare special in the UK (Dose Espresso, referenced in this article in Marketing Magazine). And for my clients in some of the earliest brand involvement in the UK with Foursquare (same article in Marketing - I was on the Debenhams team). 

More recently I've been using Foursquare more and more. Personally I'm finding the many dimensions really useful - networking, earning points, badges and mayorships (the game) and finding places to go to that that my social network rates - or in other words a manifestation of my interest graph.

So today Foursquare relaunched with a ton of new features. Download the app and log into the web version. Here's some of what you'll see: 

• It looks and works more like a stream, reminiscent of Instagram, Twitter or Path
• The focus is much more on discovery
• Lots of maps and visualisations of what's near you (as opposed to old-version's lists)
• Easier to get involved. If you don't want to check-in or think of a tip, you can just Like stuff

Here's what the web version looks like - my view of what my social graph thinks are good coffee shops near my office. This is AWESEOME and turns Foursquare into a really powerful crowdsourcing platform. Like a Tripadvisor for everything and without the trolls. 

Things brands should think about: 

• Get involved. Claim your venue, get the 'cling' and try out specials
• Know your audience. Find out who your VIPs are and do stuff with them, like you would with a blogger or a journalist. Reviews and visits will mean business
• Love your data. You now have an analytics dashboard. Get to know it and you may learn a thing or two
• Look into paid deals like Amex / Pizza Express / Tesco have done

If you want to connect with me on Foursquare here's my profile. Now I'm off to give it a run for its money.