Emotion detector: What blogs tell us about mood

In the Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Wellbeing (yes, for real, here) a paper by two University of Vermont statisticians claims that the nation's mood can be determined, in part, by the tone of it's blog postings.

Here's a chart from the paper (available here) showing an increasingly happy nation over the last four years (hearts are Valentine's Day and green trees are Christmas):

Of note is the overall upward trend (didn't political acrimony seem high back in 06?), the periodic declines in July/August (summer doldrums/stock angst anyone?), and the incredible sadness apparently felt among the blogogentsia over Michael Jackson's passing.

You can validate the statistical and research methods and conclusions for yourself (here). Essentially, they boil down to an automated index of blogs using a standard list of rank ordered words shown to convey particular emotions. Then, a magic algorithm is applied that enables age and geographic filters, among other things, to be applied to results and, voila`, the Emotion of The Crowds.

So What?

In some regards, the idea of a collective happiness index is similar to what pollsters have been attempting for decades...except that the sample size in the blog survey is much larger and is near realtime (it's automated afterall). It's also less representative of the diversity of the population.

And as fascinating as the idea of a global barometer of happiness might be, the idea highlights the challenge inherent in defining something as uniquely personal as happiness for such a large group. The paper's authors certainly concede that opportunities for improving the approach exist. They even go so far as to suggest that the approach could be more useful as a means of evaluating 'social contagion' and 'predictive theories' of social interaction...which sounds a bit like what stock markets seem to have become.

For marketers, however, it is a useful reminder that high-level trends can be valuable in scenario planning, ideation and in direction setting. It's also useful in reminding us that what may appear to be true and meaningful at the level of the group can break down completely when applied to the individual...that's as true of messaging, positioning, and creative as it is of our own happiness.

For those of you made happy as RUSH completists, here's the Emotion Detector demo tape:

Rock and Roll is Dead: Long live Rockband!

For those with an abiding interest in music, videogames and the face of Comedy Network News, check out...real rock stars trying to play their own songs on the video game Rockband!

For context, last week saw the Canadian band RUSH make an appearance on the Comedy Network's satiric (?) news show The Colbert Report. RUSH, which recently released a new version of a classic song for use with the Rockband game, is shown prior to their appearance on Colbert's show attempting to play their own tune, Tom Sawyer, on Rockband. Let's just say, video games aren't the same as playing instruments!

It's also a nice bit of integrated marketing with an online extension to Cable programming for both Comedy Central, Colbert, RUSH, Harmonix Games (makers of the game), iTunes (where game singles can also be purchased) and...for fans of the game, the show and the band.

But it's also a look at what some see as the future of music distribution...for one, the Guitar Hero and Rockband games have sold more than 6 million units. That means each of the licensed songs is a multiplatinum single! Rockband alone has also had more than 10 millions songs downloaded for the game. But what else generates such demand?

For one, the linkage of the music to an even richer experience than the ears alone enable. The gaming environment may provide a perfect platform for music releases because it melds three aspects of engaging experiences in teh gaming/music domains: the ability to play along as the air drummer/guitarist/shower singer in all of us; a challenge (competition/teamwork, scoring and progressive levels of difficulty); and a payoff (the ability to unlock additional tunes and add new ones).

Some might decry the games as a distraction from learning to play real musical instruments. I don;t think that's an issue. My own son, upon serendipitously hearing the Kansas tune "Carry on my wayward son" on the radio commented "oh, that's that song that is way too easy to play on Guitar Hero II even at the hard level." I thought about telling him how impressionable teens decades ago had seen it as a challenge piece for their progressive-rock leaning garage bands...but then thought better of that and just said "uh huh".

For those of us who may have spent the better part of two decades trying to master various musical faves on drums and bass...these games can enable you to play like a star in a couple of days...plus, you do get a sense of what real musicians have to do. How fun is that?! Recent releases of 'direct to Rockband' songs by Motley Crue and an entire edition of Guitar Hero built around Aerosmith are additional examples of musicians, fans (their kids!) and game companies crossing the traditional generational boundaries around an enhanced, shared experience with music.

video of RUSH' humorous attempt to play their own song--and failing--here



video of anonymous players mastering the same Tom Sawyer song in Rockband here

3 for Free Friday

A quick summary of three free web-enabled applications of note this week.

Freebie 1: Google Custom Search--

Google account holders can now generate a search engine for their web site...for free. Sort of. The free version will serve AdWords up with the results...but the results are impressive. We implemented Google Custom Search on our site (http://www.rkconnect.com/) in less than 5 minutes. Users can search the main site, this blog and any other related URLs we might choose. And somehow one more free tool from Google keeps turning into revenue

Value for price paid: $$$

Freebie 2: FontStruct--

FontStruct enable you to create your own fonts using a web browser and then download them as TrueType. For anyone whose ever wanted to create something that reflect their personality type (sorry), this site makes it easy...and free. The only requirements are that you create an account and that the type you create is available under the site's creative commons license. The editing tools are easy, though you won't be creating any hyper-sophisticated flourishes.

Value for price paid: $$

Freebie 3: FreeNet--

The FreeNet project released v0.7.0 after three years of work. What is FreeNet you ask? Well, in FreeNet's own uncensored words, "Freenet is software designed to allow the free exchange of information over the Internet without fear of censorship, or reprisal." See here for more. The project, which has received financial support from companies like Google, employs the efforts of volunteer developers dedicated to the principles of free speech. In their own words "Freedom of speech, in most western cultures, is generally considered to be one of the most important rights any individual might have."

Value for price paid: $$$$

Bonus Friday Freebie: Freewill (your mileage may vary)

Show me don't tell me

Nothing is quite so fun as the web design debates that begin with "If I was coming to this site..." Of course, this is generally an inefficient way to actually get a usable web design.

As humans, we naturally start from an inwardly directed sensibility of how to frame and solve a design problem. But for usable website design, we need not rely on major assumptions built on inwardly derived beleifs. And while 'there's never enough time to do it right, but always enough to do it over" may be a common experience, it is useful to think about ways of incorporating a learn-as-you-go expectation into the design process. Afterall, online a good design is a design that works.

Jakob Neilson has a set of principles that make sense in "Bridging the designer-user gap".

But the Six Revisions site lists Seven Useful Tools for evaluating web designs.

Interestingly in the Six Revisions list is that these tools (which are mostly open-source or free) provide realtime data around what users actually do on your site...where their mouse hovers, what they click on, how long the pointer hovers as examples. For the record, we've been using the free Google tools that are part of the analytics package.

One implication of these tools is that it takes the notion of usability testing...learning what works...and puts it into the production phase...learning as you go.

So what?

Usability testing has often been relegated to the pre-productioon phase. There, it is oftentimes deferred due to rushed production schedules or the perception of limited budgets. And then the opinionated debates about design fill the vacuum created. These tools, though, enable something akin to the multivariate testing that has allowed ads, direct mail and search engine marketing to be tested and refined. The online world is ever changing. Our design decisions should reflect the real experiences and needs of real users. Empirically driven tools can help show us the way.

Moving Pictures (on Flickr)

The photo sharing site Flickr (owned by Yahoo) now allows it's Pro users to add video next to their photos (which poses the problem of how to henceforth describe what Flickr is!). See here for how Flickr describes the whole thing.

But wait, doesn't YouTube have the lock on video sharing? Well, yes. Flickr does not appear to be competing with YouTube for the following reasons:

1. Only paying 'Pro' members have access to upload video (everyone can see them)
2. Videos are limited in length to 90 seconds and 150MB

So what's the dealio then?

Mostly, I it's the idea that 'slice of life' video as often taken from a camera phone or cheap camcorder is now indistinguishable from the 'slice of life' photos that Flickr has always enabled.
In other words, it's simply taking the core function of the site (photo sharing) and expanding it to include short segments of moving photos.

Maybe your slice of life is event photos and videos? Maybe you are a sales rep diagnosing a problem on location with a brief video of the issue. You upload it, and someone in support has diagnostic context? Flickr users will determine how it serves their needs best.

Here's one example: A narcoleptic cat


All the usual features of Flickr are applied to video, including tagging, thumbnails, creative commons licensing and uploads directly from camera phones. In addition, the videos are able to be embedded elsewhere on the 'net using a player provided by Flickr (though as a free user I am unable to make it work easily).

Gratuitous headline musical reference