How Does the Use of Technology Impact Our Thinking?

The question of how technology impacts our thinking, decision-making and cognitive abilities is a question that marketers are always trying to crack. But what if a small break from technology could allow us to communicate with our audiences more efficiently and encourage them to listen more closely and pay attention to the things that matter?

An article from today’s The New York Times by Matt Richtel discusses how a group of five neuroscientists took a journey to a remote area of southern Utah to “understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.” In conjunction with the article, the Times also asked readers to “temporarily give up their technological tethers, then make videos about the experience.” You can find readers’ video responses here.

Check out the video from the neuroscientists’ trip to Utah here, and see how they responded to being without technology for an extended period of time.

Have you unplugged from technology recently? If so, we would love to hear your feedback, and if you haven’t, we want to hear why, as well.

- Rob

1/5 of Americans Don’t Use the Internet

Sometimes it’s hard to fathom that I lived the first eight years of my life without the internet and the first 12 or so without the internet at home. I hardly remember what life was like without it. So it’s pretty shocking that a new Pew study found 21% of Americans say they still don’t use the internet, 16 years after my first encounter with Prodigy in my 3rd grade classroom.

I was trying to think if I know a single person who doesn’t go online these days and I’m drawing a total blank. Even my 60-year-old dad, who doesn’t have an e-mail address and refuses to ever turn on his cell phone, knows how to hunt and peck his way to Google to search for the latest house/boat/car he’s daydreaming about buying.

Over 2/3 (69%) of those who don’t use the internet are senior citizens and possibly don’t see the value since they’ve already lived for so many decades without the web. However, it saddens me that other non-users live in rural areas, have a low income or lack a high school education. I truly believe that the internet is a portal to the rest of the world and can be of huge value to people’s lives, especially if they’re geographically isolated. Heck, in Finland, high-speed internet access is a legal right! The FCC’s Broadband Opportunities for Rural America program aims to remedy this imbalance. Hopefully soon, everyone who wants to use the internet will have the chance.

—Alyssa

Will Neuromarketing Catch On?

Imagine if, as a marketer, you know what your audience is thinking and feeling when launching a product or service. Yes, market research, focus groups and beta testing helps, but what if you really knew what was going on inside your customer’s head?

The concept of neuromarketing is just that. According to an article from the Financial Post, “researchers use a variety of measurement tools (MRI, EEG, heart & respiratory ratse and galvanic skin responses) to measure changes in a person’ brain activity as well as physiologic states,” which “show how different emotional states (e.g., anger, pleasure) can be generated by different external stimuli.”

Take this example from a CNNMoney article by Rachel Kaufman from earlier this year:

An appliance maker considering adding a new feature to one of its products conducted a focus group to ask women if they liked the new feature. Most of the focus group participants said they liked it, but by studying the participants’ faces in detail, the company learned that almost 4/5 of the test subjects actually disliked the feature.

Being able to pinpoint the true feelings of customers by monitoring the way their true reactions, not just the reactions they tell us they have, will probably provide some very interesting fodder for brands and impact the way they market, create and sell their products and services.

This concept is near and dear to me, as I have a B.S. in psychology and still have an interest in how the mind works and why it works that way. I frequently read the Neuromarketing blog penned by Roger Dooley, so if you have some interest in the topic, check out Roger’s blog. It is a good addition to your daily reading.

- Rob

Mom, Did You Have Time to Read That?

While e-mail seems so old-school these days, it’s still a major method of communication.  Moms have been a target of marketers for a while now, which makes sense since they control over $4 billion worth of spending a year. As e-mail is often the preferred method of contact, for the mom and the marketer, a question arises: Is mom really reading her e-mails?

With all of the tasks that many of these moms have on their plate, it would be no surprise if many e-mails went straight to the trash or were left unread. E-mails from marketers to consumers are expected to rise to an average of 9,000 annually by 2014, according to a study by Forrester Research.

So, is e-mail still worth it? The study found 8 in 10 moms still want to receive offers and information from brands via e-mail and 85% of moms said they want to receive coupons.

Moms will read if you give them what they’re looking for!

-Rachel

What Moms Like to See from Companies That Tweet

A recent study surveyed over 500 moms about what they like and don’t like about brands that tweet, and the results are great to keep in mind when thinking about Twitter best practices. As all effective social media communicators know, brands that are on Twitter must use the platform as a way to add value to followers rather than simply pushing out brand messaging.

For many moms, this value can take the form of interesting links, sales or coupons, updates on new products and even tweets that just make them laugh. In social media as in life, humor can be an extremely effective method of attracting and engaging people. Brands shouldn’t be afraid to get a little clever. In fact, a cheeky tweet from @JetBlue to a customer last year became a huge viral hit around the Internet and even got a mention in The New York Times.

—Alyssa

Mobile Internet Begins at Home

Although most of the messaging about mobile devices these days is about convenience on the go, it turns out that 60% of mobile Web usage actually takes place right at home.

Come on, who doesn’t reach for their cell phone first thing in the morning? According to the study, 30% of smartphone users start their day with mobile Internet. My BlackBerry is my alarm clock, so I kind of have to use my mobile at home (to hit the snooze button, of course). Then I check my Weather.com app so I know what to wear, and if I’m procrastinating about getting out of bed, I might check my e-mail and Twitter, too.

Sometimes I use my phone to access the Internet at home just because I want to avoid opening my laptop. Once I do that, I usually get sucked in and before I know it, an hour has gone by.

—Alyssa

Facebook vs. the United States

There are currently around 116 million American Facebook users, while the population of the U.S. is about 309 million — that means over 1/3 of U.S. citizens have a Facebook profile. So how does the U.S. Facebook population compare to the country’s population at large? Mashable developed some gorgeous infographics to show you.

—Alyssa

What Social Media Ad Types Work Best?

(image via A Thousand Things Unseen)

We often discuss the effectiveness of ads on social media for optimal results and there never seems to be one clear solution to this issue.  However, a recent study conducted by Psychster Inc. and Allrecipes provides new insight on determining which kinds of ads are most effective.

The study, (which can be found here via Mashable.com) tested and evaluated banner ads, newsletter subscription ads, corporate profiles with fans and logos, corporate profiles without fans or logos, get widgets, give widgets and sponsored content on two different publisher websites, Facebook and Allrecipes.

A few key findings from the study suggest:

• While sponsored content provided the most user interaction (and was the least likely to be perceived as advertising), it also triggered the lowest level of purchase intent and the fewest viral recommendations.
• Corporate profiles are effective but they work better when users can become a fan of the profile and add a logo to their own page.
• More people engage with give/get widgets than with banner ads, however widgets do not increase purchase intent or viral recommendations.
• Regardless of format, the most effective advertisements were those that were related to the content on the publisher’s website (i.e. a soup advertisement on a cooking website).
• Of the seven advertising types, banner ads and newsletter links were the most successful at encouraging purchase intent.

For product marketing, the study suggests that banner ads may be the best choice.  However, for campaigns that want to build engagement, corporate profiles or sponsored content seems to be the better option.

-Maria

Facebook Judges You By Your Surname

Last night, the Facebook Data Team posted some new information about the diversity of its user base. The note describes the roundabout way in which the team determined the ethnicity of Facebook users — they used Census Bureau data about the typical ethnicity of the most common American surnames.

Many commenters have pointed out the possible errors in this method, although the researchers themselves also addressed them in the post. I have a few additional questions of my own. For instance, what would they make of Whoopi Goldberg? Or people whose last names are so rare that they don’t even rank on the Census Bureau’s chart (coughGalellacough)?

Obviously any sort of demographic data is useful to brands, but Facebook could have collected much more accurate stats if they had just asked. Several commenters suggested that Facebook have an “Ethnicity” field in profiles that could be hidden if desired (like how Facebook allows you to hide your birth year). Sure, there’s the possibility not everyone would want to answer, but it seems like a more accurate — and easier — solution than the current one, right?

—Alyssa

Who Do Y Women Trust?

PopSugar has released a study called “Why Y Women,” which explores the way that the women of Generation Y interact with media and respond to advertising. One of the study’s key findings is that the women of Gen Y (between the ages of 18 and 34) are skeptical of the advertising constantly being flung at us and seek out authentic sources of brand opinion in order to judge what material is (or is not) worth our attention.

As my daily Gmail inbox piles up with notices from my favorite online shopping haunts, news resources, cooking blogs and nightlife guides, I can relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed by the amount of information available to me…I’m sure we all can. What is interesting about Generation Y however, is what we consider a “reliable source” of information. How is Generation Y deciding what messages to take home with us at the end of the day?

PopSugar’s study found that while Gen X and Baby Boomers sought brand approval from so-called “experts,” Gen Y women report relying on our peers much more heavily when judging a brand’s authenticity. For the first time, however, this peer group not only includes “real-life” friends and co-workers, but also online friends, blog writers, and anonymous reviewers.

Personally, I find that my Twitter feed serves as a great medium through which to receive reviews and suggestions that come from what I consider to be “reliable sources.” My Twitter feed provides a one-stop location to glean daily updates on news, products and events via tweets from friends, as well as brands, news Web sites and blogs that I have chosen to follow (thereby indicating my faith in these outlets as valued sources of information) . This ability to sift through clutter and deliver “trusted” information is a quality that Twitter can really capitalize on as the world of Web 2.0 continues to expand indefinitely.

-Kristin