Social Technology Quarterly Issue 09

Social Technology
Quarterly
09
July to September 2013
09© 2013 Kuliza Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.
In this Issue
Quantified Self
The Future of
Healthcare
The App Landscape
The Transformation
Act of the Publishing
Industry

2 3
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9
Harnessing the Power of Mobile
Achintya Gupta
Identifying the Role of Social Media
Ekta Tibrewal
HTML5 Interaction Effects
Kaushal Sarda
The Influence of Art Movements on Design
Anindya Kundu
06
09
12
14
The Transformation Act of the Publishing Industry
Diarmaid Byrne
Transacting Internet Fame
Vandana U.
Show Me the Metrics
Arun Nair
24
28
34
Social Media, not so Social
Mithila Nagendra
The App Landscape
Vandana U.
Quantified Self: The future of healthcare
Deepak Behera
Listening to the Community: A Lego case study
Ann Burgraff
37
40
42
46
Campaigns
Commerce
Communities
STQ

4 5
Social Technology Quarterly and the STQ logo are trademarks of Kuliza
Technologies Ltd. Their reproducion without the proper permissions is unlawful.
© Copyright 2013 Kuliza Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
You are free to share and make derivative works of this publication only for non-
commercial purposes and under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it,
and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.
Contributors
Achintya Gupta
Product Evangelist at Kuliza
Amit Mirchandani
Chief Creative Officer at Kuliza & MD at Lucid Design
Anindya Kundu
Visual Designer at Kuliza
Ann Burgraff
Chief Marketing Officer at Kuliza
Arun Nair
Chief Executive Officer,Strata Digital
Diarmaid Byrne
Chief People Officer at Kuliza
Deepak Behera
Co-founder at Healthalyze; Biomedical Molecular Imaging Scientist,Stanford
Ekta Tibrewal
Assistant Editor and Media Manager - Online,major news organisation
Kaushal Sarda
Chief Executive Officer at Kuliza
Mithila Nagendra
Graduate Research Associate,Arizona State University
Vandana U.
Marketing & Communications Specialist at Kuliza
Social Technology Quarterly 09
July to September 2013
Published by Kuliza Technologies Ltd.
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Subscribe
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Diarmaid Byrne Editor
diarmaid.byrne@kuliza.com
Vandana U. Editor
vandana.u@kuliza.com
Amit Mirchandani Design
Lucid Design India Pvt. Ltd.
www.lucid.co.in
The Social Technology Quarterly is a
research publication that distills the
signal from the noise in the fluid social
and mobile web domain. From multiple
perspectives it analyzes commerce,
campaigns, and communities through
the lenses of business, technology,
design, and behaviour.
Editorial
From being a feature, social has transformed into a product.
Social technologies have provided deeper contexts that
permeate our existence to an unprecedented extent, so
much so that organizations, institutions and formal and
informal set-ups will end up in existential crises if they were
to be without a social presence.
The use of social technologies has become a sweeping
cultural, social and economic phenomenon. There are dozens
of dazzling social technology-based ideas and products that
we have at our disposal. Millions of people have adopted new
behaviours. This raises the question of how much value does
it add to our existence.
By exploring this question, it is apparent that social technology
has allowed people to connect at a different scale, as a unified
and powerful voice in the form of strong communities. These
communities have had significant impact on the ways in
which a brand’s dialogues are shaped and how their policies
are made.
The big task then is how brands are scraping every bit of
technology to ensure their loyal customers are engaged.
And, while organizations make the most of technology, more
and more ways to measure and analyse these attempts
come up in the form of metrics, which indicate the increasing
enthusiasm for measuring the social value of brands.
While many such attempts dominate the social media
forefront, marketing efforts too have been upped. While
mobile emerges as the social element for years to come,
the portability it offers is the exact kind of value creation that
potentially has transformative impact across sectors and
economies, changing how content is curated and distributed.
Social technology then is changing not only the economics
of content creation and distribution, but also the nature of
content itself; it becomes an evolving discussion, rather than
a fixed product. We find that businesses have only just begun
to understand how to create value with social technology.
Diarmaid Byrne
Vandana U.
Editors

6 7Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 09
Harnessing the
Power of Mobile
Campaigns
Innovation is the key word that drives
marketing campaigns. Marketers love
campaigns and promotions that increase
brand awareness and give audience the
excitement of doing something interactive
and fun with a brand. For many years such
campaigns took place during events and
in popular locations such as malls, cafés
and kiosks. With online media, marketers
not only got a wider reach to the audience,
but also ways to engage their audience
in many creative ways such as quizzes,
contest, games and other activities, all this
without asking them to leave their homes.
Marketers soon realized that tools such
as Facebook and Twitter could be used to
create a social and viral layer above these
contests and campaigns that would help
brands reach even more people at lower
costs. By building these contests and
campaigns as Facebook applications they
efficiently engaged their fans, friends of
fans and so on.
Enter Wildfire
When hundreds of brands were trying
to get their agencies and development
partners to create Facebook apps and
contests for them, companies such as
Offerpop and Wildfire came up with the
brilliant idea of providing SaaS based
contests on Facebook. These contests
were quicker to build, simpler to create,
cost effective and gave brands exactly
what they wanted-ability to run contests,
polls, quizzes, offers and deals with their
Facebook fans.
However, this ability to build and launch
quick, simple and economic campaigns
came with the compromise on creativity.
Such DIY tools for marketers and agencies
limit the exact functionalities and designs
marketers would like to add into their
campaigns.
Nevertheless, brands and agencies
were not deterred by this limitation and
adopted Facebook contest tools, Wildfire
and Offerpop as products and several start-
ups even derived inspiration to emulate
these ideas with their own products.
Wildfire grew at an exceptional pace
and went on to become the world’s top
start-up, which Google soon bought for
$250 million.
The SoLoMo Consumer
It is surprising to see that apart from
Wildfire, for Facebook there are no
good tools to create quick and cheap
marketing campaigns for smartphones.
It is surprising because present trends
show that marketers and retailers believe
in mobile. They understand that their
consumers are Social, Local and Mobile
and hence they are increasingly investing
into mobile ads, proximity marketing,
mobile sites and native content apps. A
recent study by AdMedia reported that
25% of international media and marketing
executives see mobile as the most
disruptive force in their industry.
Although brands have understood the
significance of mobile, they still rely on
agencies and digital partners to develop
and launch interactive mobile marketing
campaigns. Such campaigns take time
and money and require efficient agency
management. It is like the pre-Wildfire
era on Facebook when brands lacked the
option of a tool that could help them build
and launch something quick, cheap and
powerful.
Effective Mobile Marketing Campaigns
Mobile marketing has some clear
Mobile as a channel offers an exciting opportunity
for marketers, yet has not been fully acknowledged.
Marketers now have tools to create mobile portals and
create campaigns.There is, however, a lack of DIY tools
that can make mobile far easier a channel to stream
revenue from.
by Achintya Gupta
Poster Credit: Nanagyei
advantage over traditional online forms
of marketing and social media marketing.
It gives marketers the chance to target
audience using locations and run
promotions on proximity. This allows
marketers to run different kind of marketing
campaigns across different locations
based on the kind of customers or kind
of profits made. So, mobile campaigns
for stores at commercial locations can
be different from the campaigns for
stores in residential areas based on
the demographics and interest of target
audiences. Similarly advertisements for
audiences can be planned when they are
near a store or a brand’s poster.
Thus, when digital marketing

communities such as Econsultancy say
that 27 percent of brands will invest in
location based marketing in 2013 and
that 85 percent of merchants trust mobile
to be the next big thing, it means brands
need up their marketing strategies and go
mobile.
This brings me to my earlier point
about having efficient DIY tools. While
marketers and retailers seem as confident
about mobile marketing as they are about
Facebook, mobile counterparts of smart
campaign tools-Wildfire and Offerpop
have still not appeared in the market.
There are a handful companies present in
the market, which are microsite tools such
as GoMobi and BiznessApps that have
a narrower focus on helping marketers
create campaigns and a broader focus
on helping them build mobile sites for
businesses. There are a few location-
based campaign tools. One such was
Geotoko, but after being acquired by the
larger Hootsuite it has become a part of
their offering.
Being a firm believer in entrepreneurial
ideas, it is difficult and disturbing for me
to believe that this is one opportunity that
nobody has seized, but I might be wrong.
Or tech entrepreneurs might have already
realized that a market for such campaign
tools for mobile does not exist. Whatever
be it, I look forward to seeing such tools in
the market.
References:
“Mobile Commerce and Engagement Stats.”
Digby.
Olenski, Steve.“Mobile Marketing Too Large For
Brands To Ignore.” Forbes,20 Sep 2012.
Shinal, Josh.“How Social Media Startup Wildfire
Was Bought By Google for $250 Million.”
Entrepreneur,01 Aug 2012.
Photo Credit: Dontbeahayter
Identifying the
Role of
Social Media
Campaigns
Businesses have taken
initiatives to enhance their
social media presence,
but perceive that social
media is only an extension
of marketing and branding
functions. Social media can
work only when it is looked
at as an independent
function for every business.
by Ekta Tibrewal
With the advent of digital media, companies
have now bent on thinking differently.
As a result, marketing spends across
companies are now bearing the losses on
their budget. Today, every business out
there believes that it is mandatory to have
an online identity. Most brands have either
jumped or are in the process of getting on
the social media bandwagon.
Although skeptical, businesses are
spending a significant amount of money to
be seen as a ‘digitally viable’, perpetually
available ‘social media friendly’ brand.
It is refreshing to see companies shifting
their focus from traditional marketing to
social media marketing. Platforms such as
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have all
enabled businesses to connect and reach
out the world. Yet, social media strives to
achieve an individual identity.
Social media managers often complain
that respective businesses have switched
to social media marketing in pursuit
to seem digital, while others complain
that the function of social media for
their businesses continues to be that of
advertising.
It is important to understand why
companies have such an opinion of social
media optimization. When investing in
social media marketing, companies often
deduce that there are no returns to these
spends. More so, businesses believe
that social media is just another tool
for customer engagement. What most
businesses fail to recognize is that social
media can don many hats of a company’s
business function.
So, should your business have a social
media presence? How is social media
marketing profitable for your business?
Does social media marketing deserve an
Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 09

individual identity? These questions have
been deliberated over and argued about
for a while now. While we are at it, here
is my two cents and observation on these
questions looming over the head of every
social media professional out there:
Should my Business go Social Online?
This is a question that most businesses
do not consider before creating their
respective social media accounts. The
series of questions does not end here.
Another question that companies do not
consider is, “What social media platform
is relevant to my business?”
While it may seem great to have your
business presence on every social media
platform out there- from Facebook, Twitter
to Tumblr, Instagram and more - it can
however span out as a liability. I call it a
liability because all social media platforms
may not be relevant to a business.
Moreover, with presence across all social
media platforms comes the responsibility
of generating content regularly across all
these platforms.
So, before businesses consider signing
up for all the available hundreds of social
media platforms, a social SWOT analysis
is a must.
Can Social Media Drive Revenue?
The concept of online sponsors is not
unknown. Junkets, sponsored stories
and videos on the web are a common
phenomenon.
Big bucks are spent on digital media
in the name of online branding on social
media. But brands often forget that
Facebook likes and Twitter followers,
together account for their social capital
online. Also, most Indian businesses have
not yet managed to crack social media
partnership based on this social capital.
The money spent on television
and print advertisements is for driving
revenue, either via consumers or another
business and to create brand awareness.
However, why is online advertising treated
differently? All the social updates sent out
by a business are attempts to increase
brand awareness. If businesses can crack
strategic partnerships for sponsored posts
and tweets, driving revenue back to the
business can be quite a prolific justification
for social spends.
Even if these social partnerships
are not monetarily driven, social media
partnerships could still help a business
raise its profile when associated with
businesses that have excellent brand
equity.
To elicit an example, a television
channel airing a new sitcom that may not
have a very strong or famous casting can
consider a social media partnership with a
doughnut-selling or confectionary a brand
that has higher brand equity. Every time
the confectionary brand or the doughnut-
seller tweets, posts or shares something
in relation to its products, it can be placed
in the context of the sitcom. This ensures
the new sitcom gets its visibility amongst
its target group.
‘Social’ Media Marketing – Customer
Engagement or Brand Reputation
Manager?
Most businesses use social media
largely for customer engagement. While I
am not averse to the idea of using social
media for that purpose, that alone is not
the purpose of social media. In social
media, conversations matter. But reducing
those conversations to merely replying to
customer queries is the fault brands make.
A company’s social media presence is
often looked upon to be ‘cool’, which is
why brands should adopt a similar voice
or tone when talking on social media to
create a brand image on social media.
An excellent example of this would
be Kingfisher India. Kingfisher’s Twitter
handle (@Kingfisherworld) strikes
the balance right – it engages with its
customer, manages to discuss its product
and continues to be perceived as a brand
with a voice. In fact, Kingfisher’s tweet-ups
across various cities are usually one of the
most anticipated social media events in
the country.
The role of social media presence does
not end there. For every business, social
media presence is a part of its online
reputation and branding. The fact that PR
agencies have now suddenly begun to
offer social media marketing solutions and
strategies with their bouquet of services,
appropriately justifies this.
Social Media vs. Traditional Media
It is quite apparent that roles in social
media marketing are quite diversified.
Be it advertising, marketing promotions,
branding and online reputation
management, customer engagement
or even driving revenue, social media
marketing can individually carry out these
business functions. Yet, it strives to be
seen as valuable as traditional media.
Till date, tons of social media managers
have to justify monetary spends and fight
to get their share of marketing budgets.
Most social media teams do not have
the liberty to run an individual idea or
campaign. The dynamism of social media
cannot be leveraged within the confines of
traditional brand guidelines.
Changing Trends
I am not of the opinion that businesses
will not change their attitude towards social
media. In fact, media planners are going
out on a limb to divert brand activations to
social media.
Companies have begun to make official
announcements through social media. For
instance, AirAsia announced the name
of its CEO via Twitter. AirAsia’s CEO
Tony Fernandes tops my list of the most
social media CEO to follow. Moreover, I
look forward to AirAsia’s venture in India
principally because of Tony Fernandes’
attitude and his company’s brand position
on social media.
Another example would be automobile
giant Tata Motors that made its recent
product announcement via Twitter.
Fashion retail business, Forever 21 used
Facebook to announce its arrival and store
locations in India.
The Hurdle
It is safe to say that businesses are
adopting social media optimization in their
business module. But they are not giving
social media the due credit it deserves.
Most businesses fear pumping in money
for social media marketing and hence,
this department or team in a company,
continues to struggle to make its mark and
earn individual recognition.
Another reason for this struggle is
that most business owners, people in
key decision-making positions, perceive
social media as a nebulous subject. For
them, the reach, and the returns of social
media cannot be measured accurately in
numbers. While they believe that social
media is the trend to follow, they have
reservations about its visibility and results.
Do I still think that social media
deserves an individual identity,
independent from being an extension of
marketing or branding or customer relation
management? A resounding yes would be
my answer. With the number of upcoming
social media websites and their branding
and advertisement offering, the elevation
of social media’s identity could pan out to
be one of the most significant functions of
business in times to come.
Photo Credit: Givara13

HTML5
Interaction
Effects
HTML5 has been at the technology forefront for quite a while now
and its capabilities never cease to amaze the tech-savvy and
marketers. Here are four HTML and Javascript demonstrations
that show you what HTML5 can achieve. A few years ago,
implementing this kind of animation was simply impossible and
could only be created with Flash, but now, HTML 5 can give
astounding and impressive animation effects.
The interactive element of HTML5 has clicked
well with everyone and these effects show why.
by Kaushal Sarda
References
Kim, Jongmin.“Form Follows Function.” 2013.
Html5advent2011.digitpaint.nl.“Amazing canvas pixels - December 16th,
2011 | HTML5 and CSS3 Advent 2011.” 2011.
Hattab, Hakim.“Kontext: A context-shift transition inspired by iOS.”
5. Pixelated
Radically straight-forward, this script converts an image into
a pixelated version using an HTML5 canvas element thereby
creating a pixel filter.
2. FlipClock
Flipclock.js is a simple javascript framework used to create
different kind of clocks for websites and web applications. It can
be used to create a clock, timer and countdown. It comes with a
default flipping style digital clock layout which looks simply elegant
and stylish.
3. Spiral
The resolution is an independent rotating spiral that is simple,
but visually compelling and in a lot of ways hypnotic enough
to charm any viewer.
1. Universe Panorama
What you see is the surprisingly mucus-like, star-flecked tendrils
of the celestial heavens. It is a mess, but one that is so striking
and with a flick of a cursor you can watch it all spin around in
great circular depth—as though your computer was a portal to a
physical world far beyond the borders of your screen.
4. Kontext
This is a context-shift transition inspired by iOS and is created
using JavaScript, CSS 3D transforms and CSS Animations.
Image Credit: http://fff.cmiscm.com
Image Credit: http://fff.cmiscm.comImage Credit: http://fff.cmiscm.com
Campaigns

The
Influence
of
Art
Movements
on
Design
In spite of their differences, art and design have always been intimately
linked with each other. Designers have always been inspired by the
aesthetic ideals of art and tried to incorporate them in their designs.
Depending on societal contexts, different generations of artists have
followed philosophies of their own leading to unique styles or tendencies
in their creations. These led to what are today considered movements in
the arts. There have been several notable art movements in the last 200
years - Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism,
Futurism, Surrealism, Post-modernism and Deconstructivism - that have
influenced design.
by Anindya Kundu
Campaigns

Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau emerged as a major art
movement during the 1890s in Europe and
had a major impact worldwide. Inspired by
natural forms such as flowers and plants,
its goal was to find harmony with nature.
It found its expression and presence in
varied forms - architecture, interior design
and decorative arts including jewellery,
furniture, textiles, household objects,
painting and illustrations. Architectural
creations of Victor Horta, Hector Guimard,
De Stijl
The De Stijl movement (De Stijl is
Dutch for ‘The Style’) embodied pure
abstraction and universality by reducing
every composition to the essentials of
form and colour – vertical and horizontal
lines based on a grid, rectangular shapes
and only primary colours. Proponents
claimed this expressed the utopian ideal
of harmony and order. The movement
began in the Netherlands and was at its
Peter Benhens and Antoni Gaudi
exemplify this style. Notable artists of this
movement include Gustav Klimt, Aubrey
Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha and Jan
Toorop. Its revival tendency and emphasis
on nature can be considered as a reaction
to the Industrial Revolution, but instead
of negating machines the movement
embraced technology to create complex
structures using glass and wrought iron.
The decorative aspect of Art Nouveau is
still popular with designers for its vintage
appeal. It is still used extensively in the
design of jewellery, silverware and other
household objects. Its decorative appeal is
the reason it is often used in illustrations
and book designs, particularly in fairy tales
for children. The sign-in page of popular
website Vimeo has fairy tale inspired
artwork that is largely inspired by Art
Nouveau.
peak from 1917 to 1931. The Netherlands
was neutral during World War I and hence
remained isolated from the international
art world around this period. This helped
the movement to develop and gain
momentum independently. Dutch painter,
designer, writer and critic Theo van
Doesburg published a journal describing
the movement’s theories. In his early life
he was influenced by Post Impressionism,
particularly Van Gogh, but later realized
that instead of focusing on objects and
instances from daily life a higher spiritual
level can be achieved in painting from
abstraction by using the most basic forms.
De Stijl found its expression not only in
art, but also had an immense impact on
graphic design. Currently many websites
are grid based and make use of the De
Stijl principles to highlight their content.
Notable examples include the websites
‘Pixel Slave’, ‘Where They At’ and ‘Piet
Mondrain’.
Photo Credit: Alexis Cannariato
Image Credit: Arnold Sche

Surrealism
Surrealism as an art movement evolved
in the early 1920s and flourished between
World War I and World War II. It aimed
at merging dreams with reality in order to
allow the unconscious to express itself.
This can be interpreted as a reaction to
the horrors of war and was an artistic
revolution that challenged rationalism. It
draws its philosophy from psychoanalyst
Sigmund Freud’s argument that the
unconscious mind is the root of social
problems. Notable artists include one of
the founding pioneers Max Earnst as well
and Salvador Dali. This movement was
a precursor to the hallucination-inspired
psychedelic art of the 1960s.
Many websites have tried to recreate
a surreal experience to enhance their
appeal. ‘Recycled Lifeforms’ and ‘Agote’
are two notable ones. Surrealism also
influences product and furniture design
with bizzare objects such as chairs with
human legs, tea pot shaped like nostrils
and table lamps with birds’ legs.
Image Credit: The Artist and his Model

Image Credit: Shephard Fairey
Pop Art
evolved in Great Britain
in 1950s. It challenged the lofty ideals and
subjects of fine arts by presenting mass produced items as
subjects of art. Pop Art was influenced by Dadaism, which rejected
‘high’ art, and Abstract Expressionism because of its ability to convey
feelings. Pop Art tends to isolate a subject or combines it with other elements
to provoke contemplation. Andy Warhol’s iconic 1964 ‘Campbell’s Tomato Soup’
silkscreen painting challenges people with the question “What is art?” Other notable
artists who propagated Pop Art were Tom Wesselman and Roy Lichtenstein. Removed
from World War II and ration-era Britain, its aesthetics had a humorous, light-hearted note.
It derived inspiration from comic books and advertisements and often used bright colours.
The newly emerged medium of silkscreen printing was often used to reproduce the artwork.
Pop Art is still very popular in graphic arts today. Many illustrators recreate old
movie and music album posters in Pop Art style. Youth oriented products such as
t-shirts, pillow covers, bags, mugs and other household objects produced often have
Pop Art versions youth idols of Che Guevara and Bob Marley printed on them.
The immensely popular Epiphone ‘Emily the Strange’ SG guitar model
has a Pop Art influenced design. Websites such as ‘Blue Meuh’,
‘An Idea’, ‘Markus Daum Gallery’ and ‘Will Portfolio’
also use the bright colour and imagery
associated with Pop Art.
Pop Art

Minimalism
The Minimalist art movement originated
in New York during the 1960s. It found
its basic idea from the artist Kasimir
Malevich’s 1913 painting of a black square
on a white background. The movement
symbolized reduction and simplicity.
It believed in removing unnecessary
elements and approaching art or design in
its barest, most literal and objective form.
This movement embraced the ideal ‘less
is more’ and was inspired by traditional
Japanese design and Zen philosophy.
The works of ‘De Stijl’ artists also helped
lay its foundations. Its appeal lay in
maximizing functionality while retaining a
strong aesthetic sense of simplicity. The
movement’s prime feature is simplified
geometric forms on flat or two dimensional
surfaces with precise shapes and lines.
Minimalism is beyond doubt the current
trend in web and interface design. It also
finds its application in modern architecture,
furniture and interior design. Modern print
design and household products have
an inclination towards minimalism. The
product design of Apple products can be
considered as the pinnacle of minimalism.
Even the latest automotive designs can
be viewed as inspired by minimalism with
clean lines and shapes dominanating.
Image Credit: Shinypaperblog

In 1999, Napster introduced music fans to the
ability to download almost unlimited quantities
and varieties of music instantly through peer-to-
peer networks. The result was that customers
began demanding the availability of more
purchase options from record companies.
However, rather than take advantage of
consumers’ new behaviour and comfort with
technology, the record industry’s response was
to sue Napster and individual downloaders in
order to maintain their position and profits. As
music piracy soared through the 2000s, record
labels never made any attempt to deliver what
customers wanted. Apple, and other technology
companies, did and with the success of the
iPod the company grew to be the largest and
most prominent company in the music industry.
Today, the publishing industry is in the throes
of a major transformation, the greatest challenge
to the established practice of business possibly
since Guttenberg in the fifteenth century. The
closest parallel to the publishing industry right
The
Transformation
Act of the
Publishing Industry
The publishing industry’s
reactions to the dynamics
of changes in technology
with the introduction
of digital publishing
reflect the current
problems, challenges and
opportunities faced by
leading publishing firms
today.
by Diarmaid Byrne
Poster Credit: Loxpapers
Commerce

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
now is the music industry. As the reach
of Amazon and e-books extends ever
further, it appears as if publishers are
repeating some of the mistakes that the
record industry made. By their behaviour,
consumers were telling the record industry
that they wanted the facility to download
any music. However, the record industry
did not support consumers or initiate
the technology revolution. Instead it
came from Apple and other technology
companies. Similarly, it was not the
publishing companies but Amazon who
launched the Kindle, popularized e-books
and provided for the delivery of e-books
through their online store.
it, is resisting the new digital model.
Record companies own manufacturing,
packaging, delivery and marketing of
music. The costs for this are naturally
passed on to consumers. However, by
downloading songs and albums, the
first three steps are unnecessary and so
reduce potential revenues and profits for
record companies.
Publishing companies are similarly
motivated to slow the growth of e-books.
The publisher-author split is 75-25 percent.
Authors then have to deduct Amazon’s
30 percent commission and agents’ 15
percent commission.
In spite of the existential threat to the
publishing industry, parts of it are doing
well. As it navigates technology and
In 2006, the year before Amazon
launched the first Kindle, e-book sales
were 0.1 percent of overall revenue for
publishers. In 2012 e-book sales were
approximately20percent.Forsomegenres
such as science fiction and romance it was
60 percent or more. This transformation in
how people consume books is disrupting
the traditional business and practice of
the publishing industry, dislodging some
incumbents, opening up opportunities, and
introducing new companies who are going
to shape the industry in the future. When
looking back at how the music industry
has evolved from the late 1990s, this is a
similar pattern.
There is a good reason the publishing
industry, like the music industry before
alternative business models, it is managing
the transition well. Revenue from children’s
e-books, for example, has been increasing
by almost 300 percent annually from mid
2011. According to Publishers Weekly,
the Association of American Publishers
reported a 13.1 percent increase in sales
with e-book sales increasing 34.4 percent
to $621 million. In June 2012, e-book sales
exceeded hardcover sales for the first time
and in January 2011 Amazon announced
that Kindle books were outselling
paperbacks on their website. Considering
Kindle was introduced in 2007 and is a
six-year-old revenue stream, the pace of
change and adoption by customers has
been very fast. Another interesting point
according to Digital Book World is that
while sales for some publishers may be
flat, their profit margins are increasing
because of the higher margins that
publishers earn on e-books.
What the publishing industry has
discovered is that selling to early adopters
is a sensible move. By their actions, the
music industry created a generation of
consumers who would either pirate music
they wanted or do without it. The impact
was more than a decade of declining
music sales from 2000. According to the
Recording IndustryAssociation ofAmerica,
2012 was the first year that sales actually
increased since year-on-year since 2000.
The advantage for the publishing industry
was that the Kindle was launched with
good quality hardware, a wide range of
books to choose from, licenses for those
books and an established retail system
that consumers were comfortable and
familiar with. This is a package and service
that piracy is still unable to compete with.
There are clearly positives for the
publishing industry as it navigates the
digital transformation of its industry. There
are also a number of challenges that have
not been resolved yet.
1. To maintain a reasonable rate of print
book sales and profits at a time of declining
shelf-space in fewer retails stores. This
could result in publishing a narrower range
of authors who guarantee large sales,
with less focus, experimentation and
risks taken on unknown and lower selling
authors
2. The struggle for visibility extends to
book review space in print media. This
makes it more difficult for publishers to
get their books noticed and so they have
to develop online marketing skills to grab
attention and increase sales
3. Maintaining high margins and increasing
sales of e-books
4. Publishers will need to remain relevant
to authors and readers. HarperCollins
views its role as an ‘author-services
company’ with a range of services beyond
selecting and publishing books: marketing,
analytical tools, audience development,
dynamic pricing and possibly even to
developing alternative ways of reading a
book.
5. How to profit in the new economic
model in which the power lies with retailers
such as Amazon and Apple with their
strict pricing guidelines, rather than with
publishers
6. E-book formatting standards. Currently
there is no standard format that is platform
agnostic, which means that a book has to
be formatted in different ways for iBooks,
Kindle and Nook
It is uncertain how the publishing world
will look in the future. It is likely in the near
term, however, to involve a mix of print
and digital options, rather than exclusively
print or digital. The survivors will be those
publishers, established or start-ups, who
can take advantage of both.
References:
Greenfield,Jeremy.“Commentary on The
Guardian’s TenWays to Save the Publishing
Industry.” Forbes,10 Dec 2012.
Greenfield,Jeremy.“How LongWill Publishers
Be Able to Ride the E-Book ProfitWave?”.Digital
BookWorld.27 Feb 2012.
Osnos,Peter “Ignore the Doomsayers:The Book
Industry Is Actually AdaptingWell.”The Atlantic
Cities,23 Oct 2012.
Ostrow,Adam.“Kindle Books Now Outselling
Paperbacks at Amazon.” Mashable,27 Jan 2011.
Reid,Rob.“Music,Books and Online Piracy.”The
Wall Street Journal,01 Jun 2012.

Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 09 29
Transacting
Internet Fame
Internet fame is often considered the
gateway towards serious monetization.
The Internet offers exceptional abilities to
reach masses and the independence of self-
publishing and the concept of virality have
created famous people. However, can they
really cash-in on their fame?
by Vandana U.
Photo Credit: Ryan Tir
Commerce

than $500. A recent article by author Ed Robertson at Failure
Ahoy shed light on the math of how many self published authors
are making a living. He says, “Many indie authors are capable of
making nontrivial money with ranks much worse than #12,000.
They just have to have more than one book…” “If a #2000 rank
is good for $5000/month, that means about 500 indie books are
doing that well on Amazon–but the ones on the upper end are
doing much, much better. An indie with a $2.99 book ranked #100
is making something along the lines of $1000-1500 a day.”
Although the trend reflects that traditional writers too are
going digital, it is only to build a readership and for widespread
awareness. Many writers who want to get published still choose
to go the traditional way and keep their Kindle or Indie versions
as generators of word of mouth. This hybrid attempt is evidence
enough that one cannot rely on online publishing alone to earn,
although most target readers are at almost all times online.
Online Music
Musicians have begun to assert that as artists they should have
creative control over their work, their careers and they should
be paid fairly. There are several stories running on the tune of
musicians being paid poorly and exploited by labels and recording
companies. The question then is does the Internet make it worse
for them or gives them their due?
Music industries have continued to whine about dwindling sales.
What about artists then? How much money do they manage to
make online. The Huffington Post reported last year that although
musicians such as Rihanna and Taylor Swift crossed 50 million in
revenue, their online earnings amounted to a rather tiny portion.
Data from various sources suggest that even musicians with
great record labels are not earning much from online sales, which
makes one wonder what about musicians who have no fancy and
successful label to back them.
Most labels use Spotify and similar platforms. An article on
Digital Music News reported that labels are paid huge advances
or guarantees for Spotify’s use of their artists’ music. Steve
Gordon, an entertainment attorney wrote about Spotify paying
a meagre amount to indie artists. “The average payout for an
indie label is about $0.005 per stream (half a penny). He adds,
“Most artists signed to major record companies are ‘unrecouped,’
that is, they owe their labels money. Major labels spend a great
deal on production costs, including hefty and sometimes huge
producer fees, not to mention videos, indie marketing, and other
contractually defined expenses. The artists are responsible for
paying all these costs back, and until the label ‘recoups’ these
expenses, they do not pay the artist any record royalties.”
David Lowery, a musician who wrote the song “Low,” exclaimed,
“My song got played on Pandora 1 million times and all I got was
MMany have risen to fame and made their so-called successful
careers by becoming Internet famous. The enthusiasm for user-
generated content, self-publishing and all that the Internet has to
offer is unfathomable and the penchant for fame is unquestionable.
These are times when people’s credibility and legitimacy need
to be backed by their followers, re-tweets, influence scores
and overall internet presence. Every attempt, every click, like,
comment, share, pin, tweet, upload, photos, videos blog, amongst
a other social actions reflect the aspiration to be popular as well
as monetize. However, what it must be like to be internet famous
is different from the kinds of earning one can expect from it.
One Google search will take you through countless celebrities
who began in all sorts of ways. Be it Caite Upton’s ridiculous
answer at a pageant that went viral and made her a star or be it
Justin Beiber’s videos that led way to him becoming a sensation.
People intelligently combine SEO, virality and other marketing
attempts to translate these into internet fame that cracks the
million dollar deal. There are several portals that claim to prove
how with anywhere between $69 to $499 can get one all the
fame and riches through the virtual world. Everyone seems to be
working tirelessly to create great online presence which is why
the question, is there really a pot of gold at the other end of the
Internet spectrum?
Self-Publishing
The perception remains that any writer who sells books at
least in thousands is defined as “successful.” One such self-
published author, Patrick Wensink whose novel “Broken Piano for
President,” shot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list for a week,
was featured in Forbes, The New Yorker and Time Magazine did
the math off his internet popularity. He made about $12,000 from
the book’s sales. Besides the very little money, he confesses he
did not expect to earn much which reflects in his cynical comment
that can be summarized as poverty chose the profession (of
writing). He adds that $12,000 although is not less money, but
even we would agree it is not a windfall. Royalty percentages,
book sales, time spent and several other things to take care of,
take away a huge chunk of the money one would earn, thereby
leaving not much money.
A wide-ranging survey of such writers revealed that despite a
great name and increasing popularity, most authors struggle to
sell. The survey, carried out by Dave Cornford and Steven Lewis
for the Taleist website, of around 1000 such self-published authors
was done in 2012. It revealed that while a small percentage of
authors were bringing in sums of $100,000-plus in 2011, average
earnings were just $10,000 a year. This amount, however, is a
distortion as less than 10 percent of self-publishing authors earn
about 75% of the reported revenue and half of writers earn less
$16.89.” His song is earning him just over a thousandth of a cent
per Internet radio play. Pandora then is hardly giving anything of
worth to artists or songwriters.
Kristin Thompson from the Future of Music Coalition opines
that although there are several new revenue streams available
to musicians, many of them pay only micro pennies. Trichordist,
a platform that asserts, “Artists for an ethical and sustainable
internet” is blatant in its view that “There appears to be plenty of
money being made online from the distribution of music, it’s just
that the money is not being shared with musicians.”
Will Blogging Fame Pay Bills?
In 2010, Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner interviewed
blogger Wendy Piersall, whose blatant opinion on making money
through blogging comes in the form of an answer which reflects
her firmness and the naivety of the one who put forth the question.
According to Piersall, fame does not pay bills and being on the
front page of Digg definitely does not bring any success. Now, in
2013, is the idea tenable to be spending 100 percent of work life
to blogging? Certainly not!
Undoubtedly it requires time and energy to keep a blog useful
and running. Bloggers in effect work around the clock, but what
does publishing so much knowledge and content yield them?
Every blogger has to rely on ad sales to make any money. In
2011, WordPress allowed bloggers to make money from online
advertising through WordAds and 2013 saw Skyscraper. Co-
founder of the latter, Paul Burger, said the company’s focus is
shifting to a full-service blog monetization service. Despite the
Photo Credits
Top: JohanL
Bottom: Thomas Abbs

33Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 09
availability of such tools, just as in publishing, the earnings of
bloggers strengthen the perception that they swing toward the
financial extreme — either earning six figures or nothing from their
efforts. An article by Forbes looks at women bloggers in particular.
BSM Media’s Maria Bailey and author of Power Moms says,
“There’s the top 10% who make six figures, who write books,
and have deals with the Food Network. Then there’s the bottom
20% who are only doing it for the love and not making anything.
This leaves 70% of women bloggers — some 13.2 million — who
blog for some modicum of profit. While no two bloggers are alike,
they all receive money from similar opportunities. Those with
around 60,000 monthly views earn $10-$20 a month from an
affiliate network, but are able to command $200 a month for an
advertisement posted on the side of the page and $500 a month
for the leaderboard space, according to blogger media kits.”
The concern though still remains, however ruthless a blogger
might be, blogging is no different from any other industry, in that
the more money is earned by a relatively small number.
In my opinion then internet fame is an overstatement and a
delusion. This in no way implies that one cannot at all cash in on
internet fame. The present model seems quite flawed. However,
I do not want to shrewdly argue or place the cyberspace in the
purview of an exploitative, non-benefitting organism, but more as
to whether in the increasing enthusiasm, can we expect a great
economic turn too.
References
Bell,Crystal.“Music Artists Online Earnings: How Much Do Musicians Earn
In Digital Sales?.”The Huffington Post,31 Jul 2012.
Faw,Larissa.“Is Blogging Really AWay ForWomen To Earn A Living?.”
TechCrunch,25 Apr 2012.
Flood,Alison.“Stop the press: half of self-published authors earn less than
$500.”The Guardian,24 May 2012.
Resnikoff,Paul.“Industry Attorney: Major Labels Rarely Pass Through
Spotify Earnings.” Digital Music News,09 Jul 2012.
“How Musicians Are (Not) Making Money,and who is… @SFMusicTech w/
East Bay Ray.”The Tricordist,27 Feb 2013.
Lardinois,Frederic.“Blog Monetization Service Skyscraper Comes Out Of
Closed Beta,AddsVigLink Integration &WordPress Plugin.”TechCrunch,
28 May 2013.
Thompson,Derek.“The Reality of the Music Business Today: 1 Million Plays
= $16.89.”The Atlantic,25 Jun 2013.
Wensink,Patrick.“My Amazon bestseller made me nothing .” Salon,16 Mar
2013.
Wauters,Robin.“You Deserve Better Than AdSense”.”TechCrunch,29 Nov
2011.
Photo Credit: Steven Depolo

1
2
social media based activities. Unlike the
earlier days when social media campaigns
were more miss than hit, today there are
time-tested tools that help you measure,
monitor and correct the course of the
campaign.
Several brands have benefitted from
the knowledge metrics can provide. In the
course of the Colgate Smiles campaign,
metrics revealed vital information that
allowed Colgate to refocus its overall
brand message moving away from
corporate to more of a consumer-focused
message. During my stint at Mahindra,
we would live by these metrics; in more
than one instance, these have provided
critical insights that helped us make
improvements to the campaigns and
getting us to our goals.
Show me the Metrics!
With a wide variety of
metrics available to
brands, it is essential
brands are cognisant of
these and gauge them.
When tailored to a brand’s
specific requirements,
these provide valuable
analyses and insights to
help you drive your social
media efforts.
by Arun Nair
Photo Credit: Made in Design
Recently, at a conference I was pleasantly
surprised at the surge in adoption and
optimism for social media by brands
present there. Many were even considering
raising their budgets for social media over
the more traditional means of marketing.
However, there are some brands who
are vary of social media because of the
uncertainly of measuring their social media
efforts. The common misconception about
social media is that it is too amorphous to
attempt measurement.
Au contraire, this is precisely why a
brand should invest in metrics to measure
their social efforts failing which campaigns
will get lost in the vast wilderness and
noise in social media. In fact, the very
perception of success or failure of a
campaign relies on the metrics to measure
desirable to have. The ratio of owned
versus earned is an indicator of the degree
of influence the communication wields.
A higher percentage of earned versus
owned media reveals a brand’s success in
influencing or spreading word about itself.
Customer Satisfaction and
Responsiveness
Successful brands are built on the
cornerstone of great customer service.
Great customer service is imperative to the
objective of gaining tremendous word of
mouth. On the flipside, mediocrity can be
disastrous more so in a socially connected
world where the margin of error is thinner.
The key metrics for measurement are:
Average Response Time
This is a key measure of customer
responsiveness of the service team. This
gives insights into the average time your
brand takes to respond to a customer
query, request or suggestion. The lower
the number, the better as it gauges the
speed of your response.
First Post Resolution
This is an important indicator of
customer satisfaction as it measures the
percentage of issues that were resolved
on first contact by the customer service
team. This is significant when you want to
gauge the ability of your customer service
team when resolving issues. The lower the
number the better. In combination with the
average response time metric, brands can
gauge the effectiveness of the customer
service team.
Quality of Response
The quality of interactions is a key
aspect of customer service on social
media for three reasons. They result in
better service resolutions, lead to higher
levels of customer satisfaction and the
interactions on social media are there for
much lower because only a fraction of
the followers would have consumed
the message. This metric is important
nonetheless because it helps scale the
outreach of a campaign.
Amplification
This measures the amplitude of
campaigns and is an indicator of the
virality of campaigns. This must be broken
down on basis of the channel used.
For example, in Facebook, amplitude
is calculated as the number of shares. For
twitter, it is the number of retweets and so
on.
Conversation Rate
This metric measures the conversations
sparked by a campaign or a message.
Conversation rate is calculated as sum
of comments and mentions across social
media. This is an important metric as this
measures the involvement of the audience
who are conversing about the brand.
Combine the conversion rate and
amplification metric to determine the
engagement level of your audience.
Share of Voice
This measures the strength of a brand’s
share in the social media pie in relation
to competition. This metric is derived
by collecting all the positive and neutral
mentions of the brand and its competitors
(using tools such as Radian 6 or Sysomos
Heartbeat) and comparing it against
competition, in the form of a pie-chart,
to arrive at the brand’s specific share of
voice.
Owned vs. Earned Media
Owned media consist of channels and
conversations a brand owns and has
control over. On the other hand, earned
media is generated by word of mouth and
the virality of the communication. In the
latter a customer becomes the channel
and this is the kind of media far more
Define the objectives of your social
media campaign and then wrap it around
with metrics. It may not necessarily fit into
the mould of the traditional RoI metrics,
but there are new metrics that have been
necessitated, thanks to the proliferation
of social media, which are fast being
acknowledged universally. Some of
these metrics are also more useful than
traditional metrics because of the kind of
information that add great value to the
brand.
What Should be Measured?
There about a dozen or more metrics
that are in common use. For a better
understanding these can be clustered in
three categories:
1.Reach and influence
2.Customer satisfaction and responsiveness
3.Conversions
Reach and Influence
This helps you measure the impact and
virality of your campaign’s message. Here
are some key metrics:
Exposure
This metric captures the potential reach
in views and impressions accumulated
across all social media channels over the
period of the campaign. However, one
ought to keep in mind that this is potential
exposure and not the actual, which is
much lower.
For instance a certain brand with a
follower base of 25,000 runs a campaign in
which a message was broadcast 5 times.
The campaign results in 100 retweets.
The exposure from this campaign is
25,000 (followers of the brand’s twitter
page) *5 +50,000 (the sum total of the
followers of all those who retweeted),
which adds to 175,000. This figure is the
exposure or the potential reach of the
audience as a result of the campaign.
However, the actual numbers are
Commerce

3
everybody to see and act upon.
This metric evaluates a brand’s
writing style, communication skills and
quality of communication, response
customization, compliance with standard
operating procedures (SoP) and product
knowledge. Each of these can be rated
on a score of 1-10 with high priority given
to communication skills and product
knowledge.
Number of Complaints
This is a straight forward metric that
measures the quantum of complaints
received on social media. Break this
up according to the different channels
your brand uses in order to get a better
understanding of the composition of the
complaints.
Evangelist Turnaround Ratio
Any brand would be delighted to have a
detractor turn promoter. This is important
because there is no better example of
excellent customer service. This metric
is calculated by dividing the complaints-
turned-praise or the detractors-turned-
evangelist by the number of complaints.
A high ratio is an indication of the brand’s
ability to wow! or delight its consumers.
Sentiment Ratio
This is the ratio of positive mentions
divided by negative mentions, measuring
the general sentiment of a brand with its
audience. This is computed by processing
all mentions or in some cases, a
representative sample and then applying
sophisticated NLP algorithms to derive the
sentiment. Since this is a machine derived
metric, the accuracy is at best around 80
percent.
Conversions
This is considered as the most significant
and is the big daddy of measurements.
From an RoI perspective these metrics
are very important since these have direct
economic impact.
The Conversion Tunnel
Here, the best move is to combine
several metrics into one, flowing through
a funnel from referral traffic through to
fulfilment. The funnel can be created by
using Google analytics to cluster specific
actions or metrics into the different
segments of the funnel.
Benchmarking Against Competition
It is necessary to understand the various
metrics and the categories they belong to.
However, these metrics come to life when
stacked against competition. Comparative
figures help brands to view their social
media activities from a critical perspective
and see how they measure up.
For example, a sentiment ratio of 5:1
in which 5 positive mentions for every
negative mention, may look good, but if a
competitor’s sentiment ratio is 10:1 then it
is evident that the competition is better off
and that you need to put in more effort.
Though analysis is essential, do not be
smothered by it and become a victim of
“analysis-paralysis”. It is also important to
apply collective discretion to the reading
as opposed to being consumed by them.
In the earlier example a sentiment ratio
of 5:1 may look bad in comparison with a
10:1, but that does not necessarily mean
the brand is doing a bad job. Perhaps the
competition is seeding the web with fake
positive articles. It is of significance that
you do not jump to conclusions and it is
important to define your own benchmarks
of acceptability as you progress with your
campaigns and refine them along the way.
I recommend every brand to have
a comprehensive dashboard that lists
down these various metrics alongside
the competition. Also, these must be
monitored frequently and included as part
of the management information system.
This not only puts the brands social media
performance in perspective, but will always
keep your activities right on track.
SOCIAL
MEDIA, NOT
SO SOCIAL
Smartphones have made
it possible for us to stay
connected at all times.
However, we often do not
realize how absorbed we
are in them and cannot
determine what we gain
or lose in the smartphone
future.
by Mithila Nagendra
Photo Credit: Wacom
The launch of social media services such as Facebook and Twitter has
redefined the way in which human beings communicate and interact with
each other. Online social networks allow us to seamlessly integrate our real
lives with the virtual world. These are wonderful platforms to meet people,
post interesting articles, write about our moods, upload photos, share special
moments and events; all with the click of a button!
As brilliant as the virtual world may seem, the other facet of social media is
far from good. Online social networking is great in small doses, but any kind of
unrestrained behavior can turn this friendly and playful environment into one
that is shockingly hostile.
Several studies indicate that over-indulgence in social media and
networking can have negative effects on regular users, irrespective if they
are bloggers or tweeters. Irresponsible conduct in social media can lead to
reduced productivity, cyber-bullying, obliteration of privacy, false sense of
close relationships and worst of all, isolation.
True human forms of communication such as memorable conversations
over a cup of coffee or face-to-face interactions are taking second place to
hyper-networking on social media. This paradigm shift in human interactions
Communities

goes against how human beings were born to communicate. In an article published by
BBC News, British biologist Dr. Aric Sigman claims that reduced levels of face-to-face
interaction may have harmful effects on a person’s health. He points out to the evidence
that show the absence of real communication and social isolation can lead to a host of
mental, hormonal, and immunological problems, which can further increase the possibility
of health issues such as heart diseases, stroke, dementia, cancer amongst a host of other
diseases.
It is ironic that social media brings with itself such effects.
Many people become addicted to their virtual communities. They spend endless
hours doing everything within their power to please their online friends to stay popular
in their ever-increasing online social network. The flip side to this cybernetic existence is
that their real life takes a beating. The more time people spend on social networks, the
lesser is the time they spend on building genuine human connections. Steven Strogatz
of Cornell University opines that important relationships will weaken as a consequence of
expending a lot of time and energy on less meaningful relationships developed through
social media.
The advent of smartphones has further magnified the negatives of the virtual world.
These tiny portable devices give us an easy way to stay connected, anytime, anywhere!
On the other hand, these allow social media to truly engulf us. An experience during a trip
to Australia brought me face-to-face with this sad reality.
reach out to our smartphone every time it
calls out to us with a notification.
The one thing I missed the most about
my smartphone was the constant updates
it would throw at me. When I switched to
a regular phone, I still had a compulsion
to check this phone for new notifications.
It was silly! But after a while, once I finally
got used to the fact that my phone was no
longer smart, I started to enjoy this newly
found freedom from the smartphone. I
never expected to be happy without a
smartphone. In a way, it was a relief!
AfewmonthsafterIlostmysmartphone,I
eventually ended up buying a replacement
smartphone for a reasonable price.
Though I will not miss my regular phone I
will always remember the lessons I learnt
during the period I used it. I might at times
think of my smartphone at the bottom of
the Brisbane river, but I will always look at
the silver lining.
The experience of being without
a smartphone has made me a more
responsible user of social media. I
now realize that there is more to life
than a smartphone and the unceasing
stimulation provided by online social
interaction. A fine balance between
exchanges in the virtual world and
evolving honest human connections in
the real world is all that is required for
social media to become truly social.
References
“Online Networking ‘Harms Health’.” BBC News.
19 Feb 2009.
University of Illinois at Chicago. “Effects Of
Social Isolation Traced To Brain Hormone.”
ScienceDaily,15 Nov.2007.
Frazier, Karen. “Negative Impact of Social
Networking Sites.” Love to Know Social
Networking.LoveToKnow Corp.
Jung,Brian.“The Negative Effect of Social Media
on Society and Individuals.” Chron. Hearst
Communications.
Jarvis, Tim. “Social Not-Working: The Perils of
Too Much Communication.” Oprah.com.
Koerner, Brendan I.“How Twitter and Facebook
Make Us More Productive.”Wired.22 Feb 2010.
“Cyberbullying Continued After Teen’s Death.”
CBS News.29 Mar 2010.
Lenhart, Amanda, and Mary Madden. “Teens,
Privacy and Online Social Networks.” PEW
Internet.Pew Research Center,18 Apr 2007.
I was in Brisbane, a beautiful city located
close to the renowned Surfers Paradise
on the east coast of Australia. Like any
good tourist, I was taking in the sights and
sounds of this amazing city, when all hell
broke loose and I lost my smartphone in
the most bizarre manner. In my excitement
of photographing an intriguing bridge over
the Brisbane river (to post it on Facebook,
of course!), I dared to venture too close
to the river, lost motor-control over my
fingers, and found myself looking at my
smartphone taking a plunge into the river.
My heart sunk as I heard the plop of my
phone hitting the water. I was alone in a
strange city, without a smartphone to keep
me company. I could no longer check
emails, spy on my friends on Facebook
or constantly fiddle with my phone as
though there was nothing more important.
I felt truly isolated and lost without my
smartphone.
But to my surprise, I survived without
a phone, “smart” or otherwise, for almost
a week. I came back home and could not
replace my smartphone because I had no
insurance on it. The only other option was
to buy a new one, which was out of the
question. So I decided to live without a
smartphone for a while, which was awfully
challenging. Once a smartphone had
taken over my life, going back to a regular
cell phone took quite some effort. The wait
in the immigration line at the airport when
I finally got back from my trip, for instance,
seemed to be longer than usual. There
was no smartphone to keep me busy, no
social media to indulge me. It felt weird,
but for the first time in a long time, I started
to once again notice the world around me.
This experience brought out a
realization. Smartphones, to a certain
extent, help reinforce the bad traits of
social media. Through our smartphones,
we are constantly bombarded by all kinds
of notifications: Facebook feeds, new
emails, messages, the list is endless. The
compulsive being in us always forces us to

Communities
DOWNLOADS BY OS APPS BY OS
APPS PER PERSON
APPS PER DAY PER SMARTPHONE
2010
7.0
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.9
8.0
2011 2012
48billion
on android
800,000on android
32on android
40on iOS
775,000on iOS
125,000on windows
70,000on blackberry
by Dr. Michael Mandel reveals that the
app economy has resulted in the creation
of 752,000 jobs. But the more interesting
aspect of his research is when he points
out that the app economy has not been
estimated accurately, is far bigger than we
imagine and that the official statistics are
wrong about the App Economy. “How big
can the app economy get?” Mandel asks in
the report. “That depends in many ways on
the future of wireless and social networks.
If wireless and social network platforms
continue to grow, then we can expect the
TheApp
Landscape
The global app economy continues to accelerate
with the number of opportunities, jobs and
increasing revenue ever since its inception.
by Vandana U.
Illustrations: Amit Mirchandani
In the last decade we have witnessed
an astonishing wave of innovations. The
growth of different kinds of applications,
popularly called apps, has undoubtedly
made a remarkable presence on the
technological landscape.
The app economy has created new
types of jobs across the world. There is a
phenomenal increase in the demand for
light-weight applications to run on mobile
devices and platforms. The app economy
really only developerd after the debut of
the iPnone in 2007. A new study conducted
App Economy to grow with them.”
Tim Shepherd, Senior analyst, Canalys,
says “The strength of app ecosystems will
increasingly help to determine winners and
losers in the smart device industry.”
The increasing numbers prove that this
sector of the economy is growing fast and
that many more of us will soon be earning
our pay in the app economy.
References
Mandel,Michael.“The Data Economy Is Much,
Much Bigger ThanYou (and the Government)
Think.”The Atlantic.,25 Jul 2013.
“How Many Apps Are in Each App Store?.”
pureoxygenmobile.Pure Oxygen Labs,
05 Mar 2013.
Etherington,Darrell.“The App Store’s 50B
DownloadsVs.Google Play’s 48B:Android
Closes The Gap.”Tech Crunch,15 May 2013.
Perez,Sarah.“Apple’s App Store Hits 50 Billion
Downloads,900K Apps,$10 Billion Paid To
Developers; iTunes NowWith 575M Accounts.”
Tech Crunch,10 Jun 2013.
“State of the Appnation – AYear of Change
and Growth in U.S.Smartphones.” Nielsen.The
Nielsen Company,16 May 2012.
Gordon,Mary Ellen.“How To Reach America’s
Mobile Moms.” Flurry Blog,02 Jul 2013.
TOTAL APPS DOWNLOADED
58billion
on phones
14billion
on tablets
50billion
on iOS
1billion
on windows72billion
total

Quantified Self:The future
of healthcare
CommunitiesCommunities
Knowledge of healthcare
and wellness needs to
be incessant. Owing to
the concept of quantified
self, the collaboration
of technologies and
healthcare ensure
efficient self discovery,
self awareness and self
knowledge.
by Deepak Behera
Photo Credit: Fitbit
It was going to be a long flight home
from Singapore to Bangalore and the
fact that I was going to spend the flight
sandwiched between two strangers did
not improve my outlook. I settled into my
seat, next to a professional-looking young
man. I envisioned him working in sales or
consulting and probably spending most of
his time hopping between multiple time
zones. When a flight attendant directed us
to turn off all electronic devices, I noticed
him checking several items including an
iPhone, mp3 player, laptop, a headset
and a hi-tech wristband. I was intrigued.
He told me it was a wearable sensor
that monitored the number of steps he
had taken throughout the day, his body
temperature, the amount of water he lost
through perspiration and his heart rate.
It even included a time-zone sensitive
sleep-cycle responsive alarm that woke
him up at his lightest stage of sleep, so
he always felt rested. He then described
how he uses an app on his smartphone
to help him track his daily food intake,
including water consumption, nutritional
content and number of calories. He was a
perfect example of the movement known
as quantified self; that is, self-knowledge
through self-tracking. Needless to say, I
forgot all about my middle seat!
Conventionally, measuring one’s health
was mostly achieved by one’s physician,
derived from tests performed in either
the medical office (e.g. weight and blood
pressure) or through clinical laboratory
tests (e.g. blood tests measuring glucose,
triglycerides, or cholesterol levels). While
these tests reveal significant information
about the status of an individual’s health,
these do not account for, at least explicitly,
an individual’s’ lifestyle; that is, nutritional
habits, emotional well-being, or physical
fitness, for example. Often, these tests
are never done without a visit to the doctor

and so only get performed when we are
already sick.
There are a number of self-monitoring
sensors and self-tracking gadgets such
as BodyMedia, Amiigo, Basis, Fitbit, and
Nike+ fuelband and various smartphone
apps such as mapmyfitness and runkeeper
that enable users to embrace their
quantified selves. These count every step
taken, map the route of a run, calculate
calories burned, and record nutritional
intake. Furthermore, behavioural activities
and emotional well-being can be turned
into measurable data through apps that
track largely self-reported data. These
include time prioritization, productivity,
sleep, meditation and mood. We can then
analyze the data ourselves, set goals and
monitor our progress. Thus, owing to these
self-tracking devices, generating personal
health and lifestyle data is no longer
prescriptive and fragmented but voluntary
and continuous. The real challenge is not
the quantification process, but engaging
and motivating a user to track it regularly.
Several successful devices and apps
have tackled this issue by taking user
engagement from an individual level to
a “social” level. Many of these apps are
connected to social networks such as
Facebook or Twitter, which allow people
to display their achievements, engage
in healthy competition, form online
communities and even inspire others
to join the movement. Several of these
apps utilize the concept of gamification
to engage the competitive streak in their
users. For example, in Zombies, Run!
everyday outdoor running becomes an
immersive real-time game where people
run for their lives to escape hordes of
zombies! Other apps utilize the time-
tested concepts of leader-boards, badges
and awards.
Of significance is how we can take this
quantified self to the next step, up the ante
and increase our role within the healthcare
system.
Contemporary healthcare system is
largely geared towards curing a problem
once it arises rather than preventing it,
despite innumerable studies proving far
superior cost-efficacy of prophylactic
methods. Logistically, doctors are doing
what they were trained to do - solve a
problem. They are paid to prescribe pills
and order tests, not to take us for a walk
(even though walking might be the best
thing for us). Moreover, prevention of
chronic diseases is a continuous process,
not something achieved through an
annual check-up at the doctor’s office.
We ourselves need to become active
participants in producing, analyzing and
managing our own health information
rather than staying passive consumers
of healthcare. This is where self-tracking
and data compilation shows tremendous
potential for bringing forth changes to the
healthcare system.
In addition to these inadequacies in
personal health care, the healthcare
system in its current state is also unable
to control the larger and more important
determinants of public health, which
are diet, exercise, stress and access to
quality healthcare. The large amount
of data available can be analyzed
for trends based on factors such as
geographical region, ethnicity, income
and insurance status. The aim is to
strategize interventions and formulate
policies targeted towards populations
that are most affected or are most likely
to benefit and reducing tremendous cost
to employers, government agencies,
insurance companies and organizations
like the WHO. Also such analyses can
provide insights to detect, study and
monitor the efficacy of intervention in acute
diseases of epidemiological proportions
such as a dengue or diarrhea outbreak. By
logical extension, the focused connectivity
provided by social media platforms can be
used by health agencies to make known
vital and timely information, to prevent
spread of disease.
Primarily, health information has to be
available to physicians continuously, in
contrast to the current practice of sporadic
visits where physicians or their assistants
try to collect as much new information
as they can since our last visit, in a short
period of time. This current catch-up-
method carries the concern of introducing
recall bias and missing information on
levels of blood and urine parameters or
other measures during the time in between
visits. Self-tracking devices, powered by
increased connectivity through technology,
update results of blood pressure, blood
glucose, and urine ketones on a patient’s
file on a daily basis. Measures of important
determinants of health such as stress,
diet and exercise can sometimes be
sidelined by physicians and allied health
professionals partly due to the difficulty
of measuring them in discontinuous clinic
visits. Quantified individuals can now
continuously measure such parameters
and provide results to the concerned
representatives in their health care
network. This type of continuous health
monitoring could be especially beneficial
for patients with chronic illnesses in which
regular monitoring is essential. By getting
continuous feedback remotely, people will
not only save time and money on clinic
visits but also will be able to take an active
role in managing their own health.
Further, this personalized data could be
made readily accessible to one’s entire
healthcare network, including not only
the primary care physician, but also the
cardiologist, physical therapist, nutritionist,
counselor and personal trainer to provide
comprehensive data to enable more
informed decisions and more personalized
healthcare advice for every patient. The
higher efficacy of health care delivery by
a coordinated team in managing chronic
conditions has been well-established,
as has the detriments and inefficiencies
arising from miscommunication between
un-coordinated health professionals.
Individualized treatment plans are more
likely to result in satisfied, compliant
and engaged patients. Disease-specific
education and behavioral counseling
translates into better support and
encouragement for self-management of
chronic diseases. Close and sustained
follow-ups with patients ensure early
detection of side effects from medication,
non-compliance with treatment plans
or lack of efficacy of the intervention.
A physical trainer will then be able to
customize exercise regimes based on
the doctor’s notes, a nurse will be able
to determine reasons for the sudden rise
in blood-sugar levels, a counselor can
detect an unhealthy behavior and educate
about possible future effects and friends
will laud with a virtual thumbs-up on
Facebook when they notice achievements
on timelines of one reducing 5 kilos in 3
months without having to pay a visit to any
of the professionals mentioned above!
For the future, integrating quantified
self and social health with medical and
allied health networks is the paradigm
shift that will spur innovation and
improvement in the healthcare system.
Already clinical research has begun to
shed the conventional method of sparse
contact with participants and embrace a
more continuous out-of-lab tracking. The
tremendous amount of data available
can help epidemiologists develop novel
mathematical and statistical models
for disease prediction, effectiveness
of intervention and prevention and the
efficacy of treatment. This is the significant
step ahead to re-evaluate how we value
health and our role in generating a new
healthcare system.
References:
G.F., “Fit, fit, hooray!” The Economist. 24 May
2013.
Kolata,Gina.“A LongView on Health Care:Think
Like an Investor.” The New York Times. 21 May
2012.
Kottke TE, Isham GJ. “Measuring health care
access and quality to improve health in
populations.” Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(4):A73.
Macera, Carol A.“Promoting healthy eating and
physical activity for a healthier nation.” Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Wagner, Edward H. “The role of patient care
teams in chronic disease management.” British
Medical Journal.(2000) 320: 569–572.
45

Some products have revolutionized the
world. One such is Lego blocks. The
giant toy maker has come a long way
over the past almost 80 years - from a
small carpenter’s workshop to a modern,
global enterprise that is, in terms of sales,
the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of
toys today. For fifty odd years Lego made
great sales. However, in 1998 it made its
first set of losses and in 2004, following six
years of declining sales and profits it made
a huge loss of US$240 million. Rumours
circulated that Lego would be taken over
by Mattel, America’s biggest toy maker.
But, Lego made its smart move. It
listened to its customers, understood the
propensity of its customer base and offered
its consumers exactly what they needed,
making some revolutionary decisions.
In 2002, Lego released a 3,104-piece
Imperial-class Star Destroyer building
Listening to
the Community:
ALego case
study
It takes a community to
raise a brand.Toy maker
giant, Lego understood the
power of its enthusiastic
fan communities and
created a product that
saved it from going
bankrupt.
by Ann Burgraff
Photo Credit: picstopin
kit for its Ultimate Collectors’ Series line,
which meant it was detailed and complex.
It was priced at $299 and at the time of
release it was the largest set in size ever
created.
The exercise began with Lego hiring an
agency, Informative, which set up customer
communities for Lego enthusiasts of all
ages and ways to listen to customers
ideas about products to build. One of
these was the Lego My Opinion Consumer
Development Portal. The portal enabled
customers to directly talk to Lego. It had
150,000 active members who voiced what
they really wanted. The portal echoed
with a need for more complex sets that
Lego enthusiasts could play all weekend
long and not something that was simple
enough to be built in an hour or two.
Lego took the voice of its consumers
so seriously that it came up with the Star
Wars Imperial Destroyer, which offered
audiences the opportunity to recreate and
replay scenarios of the Star Wars universe,
making it as a particularly compelling
product.
The product reconnected Lego with its
core customers; not only 7 year-old boys,
but also mostly male adults who remain 7
at heart, who make up for the adult fans of
Lego: AFOLs.
AFOLs are responsible for 5 percent
to 10 percent of Lego’s billion-dollar-plus
business. It was not clever above the line
or below the line advertising. Even the
high price was not a deterrent. But once
this kit was released it sold like hot cakes,
which made Lego create more such iconic
toys, becoming an example of a company
that was at the brink disaster but made
an impactful comeback. Though several
sellers were sceptical, Lego sold it at
events to which Informative invited Lego
opinion leaders, reaffirming that it had
taken its customers rather seriously and
was bent on “wowing!” them. As Michael
McNally, Senior Brand Relations Manager
at Lego says “We realized that innovation
can really come from the people who are
using our products, every single day of
their lives.”
This episode chronicles Lego embracing
the motto of being customer-driven.
References
Li,Charlene,and Josh Bernoff.“Lego: Energizing
an Existing Community.” Groundswell:Winning
in a world transformed by social technologies.
Boston,Massachussets: Harvard Business Press,
2008.
Robertsson,David.“Brick by Brick: How
Lego Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and
Conquered the Global Toy Industry.” www.
robertsoninnovation.com
“Star Destroyer.”Wikepedia.Wikipedia Inc.,15
Jun 2013.
“The Lego History.” Lego.Web.
Communities

49Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 0948
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