After a month of letting algorithms and notifications run my life, what have I found? Would I recommend it? Did I hit my goals? Well, I’m going to break this into different areas, as it’s a mixed picture. Work productivity is through the roof. And I’m not just saying that because it’s on our company blog and my boss is reading this over my shoulder. Honest. IFTTT was a big part of this. Specific elements within what has become a full-blown obsession include: 300 notifications and 9 applets Probably the one app which helped my productivity most was the one that saves Gmail attachments automatically – minimum 5 mins p/w time saving. Statsbot – it’s a Slack integration that a friend told me about towards the end of the month. It let’s you connect Google Analytics with Slack and auto-generated a report or for me. Wasn’t a massive time saver as I only needed 4 stats, but still saves you the time to login and click around (change the date etc.). The disadvantage is that it takes away the additional benefits of GA (historics e.g.)… Another one I found quite useful (it unfortunately doesn’t complete the tasks for you but it’s useful to understand when you are more productive) was putting all my completed tasks into a google spreadsheet – there were some errors with the app, compounded by the user bias of how I choose to tick off tasks, but it nonetheless helped me chart and understand my personal productivity patterns Swiftkey likewise improved by speed AND accuracy of typing. 10% quicker, 40% less typos. Can’t argue with that. Did I become more productive? In some areas it works really well: work productivity. For food I wouldn’t say more productive, but interesting to know. For music or movies it doesn’t really work for as I prefer to just click through and go by friend’s recommendations or trendy stuff. Good to know, but not really that practical in your daily routine Eat This much – interesting, but I’m not really sure what to do with this information. You can see the days where i have been to the gym or one of the hundred brunch places where they have avo with toast in London and my proteins go up… but what do I do differently with said info?! Spotify Weekly – the weekly part was the limiting factor here… by Wednesday I’d heard everything and wanted more recommendations. Great as part of your listening habits, Spotify isn’t yet ready to take away all personal choice in the process… So, what are the things I’ll continue with, and commend to you? Well, first and foremost we can all benefit from being more productive in the workplace, and I only scratched the surface of the ways I can optimise my workflows. We have the benefit of being a data-savvy, cloud-based start up, but much (if not all) could be applied in large enterprise environments. Removing the fun of personal choice, even where it’s not the most rationally optimised choice from our personal lives, however, doesn’t bring the same sense of reward. Eat based on your eyes and heart, listen based on your mood, and don’t (yet) outsource these to the robots. Right, I’m off to do whatever my task spreadsheet says to do next!

Instagram announced this week their intention to change the newsfeed from chronological to algorithmic: essentially from what the last thing posted was, to the most ‘relevant’ thing posted in the period since you last logged in. Commentariat was predictably eager for the dramatic ‘user revolt’ story (the petition against runs at 150k signatures), which belies some of the more nuanced and considered analysis which would drive understanding of what comes next. Why are they changing the Instagram newsfeed? The Instagram blog post says it’s in response to the fact that users miss 70% of posts. Now this won’t actually change that (switching how things are presented in this way doesn’t make people view more, it makes people view a ‘better’ set of images) but it will theoretically ensure more ‘value’ from the time those users spent. That could long-term drive a stickier platform. In reality it’s about addressing the ‘noise’ in the feed. If users don’t feel they get what they signed up for, they switch off. Now your feed is full of things you’ve chosen to subscribe to, but forgotten why. It’s also full of poorer quality content as the platform grows, and you become more enthusiastic in your clicks. This is arguably truest of long-standing users. Email has suffered this issue for years, Twitter grapples with it constantly, and algorithms are theoretically the way to address this, by automatically showing you the most relevant content. In practice, it’s also about the long-term profitability of the platform. This change better prepares their ability to make brand use, in particular, commercial and not organic in nature. What does it mean for my organisation, or for my Instagram influencer career? The first thing to note is the lack of surprise from those who’ve spent their time in the development of social media. This was an inevitable Instagram strategy – it’s straight from the Facebook playbook. First you introduce adverts, then you make the algorithmic newsfeed, then (having established the principle you decide what’s best for users, with an invisible hand), you squeeze out the organic reach of certain classes of users – most notably brands. Brands are then required to use adverts to activate their existing audience they’ve previously treated as a captive audience. The endpoint, one way or another, is very likely to be effectively zero organic reach for brands, should the same plan be followed as Facebook deployed Facebook owns Instagram, ICYMI). One interesting outtake from the Instagram blog post was the first official estimate of what organic reach currently looks like in practice. Instagram analytics are virtually non-existent beyond on the ad products, and so there’s been no meaningful way to gauge how many people typically see an organic post. Now 30% is high compared to other social platforms, so the newsfeed is by no means as noisy as the Twitter one, for example. A specific concern from some of those protesting the move is that this limits discovery of surprising or new ‘voices’. This is somewhat confused – if it were in your newsfeed you’d already decided to follow them, so that’s less relevant. It does point to a specific challenge within Instagram for all users though – discovery. The absence of ‘viral’ social gestures (essentially a sharing mechanic like Fwding an email, Retweeting, ReTumbling) means you only see content your existing users post, not them sharing others. To some extent people have got round this by hacking regrams, but it’s never had the same dynamic as on other networks. So, in practice people have discovered new Instagram content in two ways: via other networks (e.g. cross-promotion in Twitter etc) or via topic search (i.e. #breakfast). These are going to remain unchanged, and if anything an even greater emphasis will be placed upon them as routes to gain popularity. Snapchat sees similar viral discovery barriers through its absence of an equivalent social gesture. Algorithms also shouldn’t be viewed as de facto ‘bad’. Bad algorithms are bad, good ones will, definitively, provide a better experience for everyone who doesn’t literally live their day on Instagram. Concerned users would be better lobbying Instagram over the dimensions in the algorithm (e.g. if one wants to ensure they’re exposed to great content more than just that of their friends, that’s achievable). There’s no theoretical reason Instagram couldn’t allow users to personalise what matters to them in their newsfeed in this way… (Just sayin’). Specific areas which might lead Instagram to different rollout decisions to Facebook might include that brands arguably are more relevant in Instagram. For many it is a platform about the visual aspirational world: a space to consume and collect things more beautiful than the ‘real’ world they live in. To that extent, luxury brands, cars, beauty, fashion brands are as (potentially more) relevant than in Facebook, which really is about your ‘real’ social network (babies, cats, beers), combined with media content distribution. One downside of the advertising product rollout in Instagram has been the rise of irrelevant brands to the medium, and it could be that Instagram don’t universally penalise brands in quite the way Facebook have, but do so more selectively, based on relevance. Ask followers if they view ASOS posts as essential to consume, and you’ll quickly get the idea of the importance of brands to the medium… Many who rely on Instagram as a medium to share their content (e.g. Instagram influencers) are rightly concerned. What if their audience drops? One positive for this group ought be that they are likely to be the ‘winners’ from this. Non-brand, well-followed highly-engaged content is almost certain to top an algorithmic newsfeed, especially if several of someone’s friends also follow your feed. Those who might want to look nervously over their shoulder might include those who have “like gamed” over the years, or bought followers, and therefore have worse follower/engagement ratios. That sort of thing is what newsfeed algos penalise, and is likely to see reach drop. In fact influencers may see the burgeoning economy for their placements from brands rise. Assuming brand reach declines and (good) influencers holds up, the ‘value’ of a post from the latter is likely to raise yet further. Facebook never had this aspect of “homegrown” stars, so it’s an area without clear precedent for Instagram. What should I do to prepare for the Instagram newsfeed? As a user, you have no control. The sober way this was announced via the NYT shows they’ve considered this. It’s happening. Deal with it. As an Instagram influencer, ensure your content is really, really engaging. Look for the stuff which drives hearts, not just artistic style points. Also, encourage your followers to get their friends to follow. You’d probably do this anyway, but “affinity” scores matter in algorithms. As a brand, you ought to have been anticipating this for some time, and factored it into your plans. You will, in the medium-term, need to adopt a strategy with three broad components: paid amplification, customer activation (get them to create own content), and influencer placement. It’s the circle of (social network platform) life, to paraphrase a wise cartoon lion. #reach #organicreach #Facebook #algorithm #influencers #Instagram

It’s been a year since I joined OneFifty as a data analyst and social researcher. As a Bavarian, living in London, analysing conversations from right across Europe,  I have noticed that there are definitely unique traits to the German social scene. So, are you wondering whether “Tagesschau”, “Tatort” or “Das Dschungel-Camp” gains more traction on social? Or maybe you have no clue what that means at all? Let me help you out… So, what are the unique traits only we Germans show in social? Crafting is not a hobby, it’s a way of life: Or so it seems among the German online crowd. In no country I’ve researched did I come across so many craft, DIY and interior design inspiration blogs and Instagram accounts. Here are two of my favourites: Wohnkonfetti and a collective of German interior bloggers. Interesting cultural tidbit: Germans are cautious and do not want to give out too much information. “Daten-Sammler”, “Datenschutz”, “Identitätsklau im Netz” (data-collector, data privacy, identity piracy on social networks) are commonly discussed topics around social media usage. They have a deep distrust of data collection by American global players such as Google and Facebook, which became very clear when Facebook owned Whats App got banned from collecting user data. Is LinkedIn dominating your business and career related connections? I think you should check out Xing before you go to your next Business Trip to Germany. With 8.1M members, Xing is currently the largest professional network by members in Germany. But it’s an interesting race between Xing and LinkedIn (Latest official Xing user numbers here, LinkedIn users from DACH here. ). Looking at search trends, since May 2016 LinkedIn is, in terms of search interest, as popular as Xing. But have a look yourself: Anyone remember StudyVZ or Lokalisten? There have been quite a few German networks I remember being really popular among my friends in high school. But they have been slowly dying out against the big international competitors… We all agree how great German football is: But did you know that our biggest YouTuber is currently Konstantin Hert from Stuttgart? His channel freekickerz is 5 million subscribers strong. That’s 3 times bigger than adidas Fussball, Sky Sport Germany and the Bundesliga’s audience together. Shows where the content priorities are… Twitter – it’s what’s happening: However the network has been struggling to attract the same number of active users in Germany compared to its European countries. Is it because we can’t get a sentence structure into 140 characters? Angela Merkel has a mere 2,977 Twitter followers (whereas she has2.3m followers on Facebook), compared to Donald Trump’s 22.3million! Now, if you “only understand train station” or want to know more about Germany’s TV darlings that I mentioned at the beginning, you can tweet me… Actually – nein. Tweet weareonefifty, I am too German… 🙂 #germany #germanysocialmedia #data #socialmedia #socialmediatrends #germansocialmedia #trends

January means resolutions, heavy gym/dating/holiday marketing campaigns, and endless “7 social media trends for 2016” type blog and news posts. But does anyone stop to consider whether last year’s predictions came true? Are these types of posts really worth reading (or writing)? And how original are they – if you’ve read one, have you read them all? We decided to do what we do, and apply some quantitative and qualitative analytical rigour to answering these questions. We analysed social media trend and predictions posts from over a hundred media outlets, agencies, consultancies, research houses, and social software providers, to see just how much insight there really was. This included the top UK social, creative, PR and media shops, plus selected others. We looked at their 2015 and their 2016 posts, and assessed them for: Originality (how different were their forecasts to others) Accuracy (how many of their 2015 forecasts came true)? Not all produced this type of content (at least publicly). We found about a third to be chancing their crystal balls. The results were striking. Originality: Two thirds of 2016 predictions were repeated across more than 70% of the authors. That’s even more similar than last year, which saw closer to 50% of predictions shared across 70% of authors Accuracy: Around 60% of 2015 predictions can be said to have ‘come true’. However, many of these predictions were an evolutionary, multi-year phenomenon (e.g. mobile social usage), so can be regarded as pretty safe bets. Predictions of things which could actually occur solely within the 12 month timeframe (e.g. a service being acquired or rocketing in popularity) saw c.30% accuracy Are there notable differences in the ‘good’ predictors? Those who were more accurate in 2015 didn’t share many traits. The only discernible themes identifiable are that they typically pick fewer predictions, and they tend to publish themselves, rather than on third party sites Wisdom in crowds? The frequency a prediction is repeated within the cohort does improve the likelihood somewhat of it coming true, but this correlates to multi-year evolutionary type predictions which are a) ‘easier’ and b) have some preceding evidence for their veracity. They’re safe bets to make, essentially Interesting asides from trawling all of this future gazing: In 2015 predicting significant user growth across platforms was notably popular, yet has dried up in 2016. Which is amusing considering this was one of the more accurate predictions made, and many less accurate ones are being repeated for 2016! Predicting the growth of content was most universally popular both last year and this. It is worth reflecting whether the popularity is as much to do with it serving the interests of a good number of the predictors than any other claim The most notable ‘wrong’ prediction, yet seeing repetition heavily for 2016, is the advent of mass virtual reality adoption. Given the providers of these platforms, such as Oculus Rift, don’t envisage it yet being mass, this is puzzling Based on the above data, the most effective use of your trend reading time is to stop after reading two posts on the topic. You are more than 90% likely to have read two thirds of all the predictions being made across those posts. To have a good chance of reading more than four-fifths of the predictions being made requires much more reading, given the concentration of a relatively small proportion of authors as originators of the more novel predictions. Plus, if a post has few predictions, read it (probably good advice for life) Worth noting is that the traditional consultancy businesses, who have increasingly moved into digital marketing provision in recent years, don’t produce these types of forecasts. Perhaps reflecting their background, they contribute predictions only within the wrapper of heavy duty research. Also, credit to the Wall blog, who did assess whether or not their 2015 predictions came true, and Ogilvy, who opened 2016 predictions with a review of their 2015 ones… Conclusion: Trend predictions for social media are only moderately likely to come true, despite the high degree of overlap between forecasters. Highly original forecasts don’t significantly reduce the accuracy, when judged like-for-like with predictions which come true within the same time frame. The best thing which could happen is a) for predictors to start including their success stats from the previous year, b) assess their own originality, and c) for people to move towards only predicting multi-year phenomenon, where everyone appears to both share some degree of consensus, and achieve some degree of accuracy. Which is what the rest of the business world has known for some time, it appears… Note 1: We specifically haven’t named good/bad performers, because the point here is about the content trope as a whole, not specific parties within it. Note 2: The sample size is sizeable enough to draw some meaningful conclusions, but not to deliver statistically significant accuracy. Note 3: There is some inherent subjectivity in the decision as to whether something ‘came true or not’ last year, as well as how we’ve clustered recommendations. #data #predictions #socialmedia #trends

In Sarah’s last productivity hacks article, she gave you a few of our favourite tricks of the trade to be more productive during the day. Now it’s time for the Google Chrome extensions addition. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Google Chrome Extensions Store, you’re missing out on a veritable treasure trove of internet gadgetry. Extensions are basically mini-programs which work in your Chrome browser to give added functionality – they can be built by Google itself, your favourite websites or developers who just want to help people out – and they’re super helpful shortcuts to getting stuff done (our favourite thing at OneFifty). Here are 8 of our favourites… 1. Momentum Momentum replaces your boring old ‘new tab’ screen with a motivational dashboard to help you get through the day – it’s popular with the team at OneFifty because it’s got motivational quotes, gorgeous background photos and even has a little to-do list for you, which is great, unless, like us, you use Todoist (read all about how we love it here) 2. Lastpass If I achieve anything with this blog, it’s persuading you to take out a LastPass subscription (free or paid). I get nerdy about having different passwords for everything and making them super secure, which means it’s impossible to remember any of them. With LastPass, it saves them all down for you (securely) and you only need 1 mega-long master password to access all of them. The extension then securely fills in your data on websites without having to rifle through your memory – it genuinely saves so much time and effort with the added bonus of keeping your accounts more secure. LOVE. 3. Google docs quick create As champions of the Google corporate system, we open up a LOT of new google docs every day. Presentation? Throw it on Google slides. Call notes? Share them with your colleagues on a Google doc. You get the picture. This nifty extension quickens up the process and lets you open a new document up directly from your browser bar. Saves you a few clicks and much time. 4. Google Keep Another ode to how much we love Google – the Keep extension enables you to write a new Google Keep Note attached to the page or document you’re working on at that moment – great for taking quick notes during a Google hangout or when you’re looking at a website, and don’t want to move tabs or use the fancy features of a Google doc. 5. Grammarly Without being extreme, Grammarly makes life worth living (okay, maybe a bit extreme). This nifty extension checks your grammar and spelling on emails, documents and social media as you type then gives you tips and hints as to how you can improve your writing, use better grammar or change your choice of word. It’s no replacement for learning the proper use of ‘less v. fewer’ or ‘you’re v. your’ BUT it will save you from an embarrassing email mistake to a client. 6. Nimbus A recommendation from sports-analogy loving Dan, Nimbus helps you take screenshots and screen record without having to hold down an awkward combination of buttons on your keyboard, which inevitably you get wrong and end up closing all your windows or screenshotting the whole screen. It’s the little things. 7. Google Calendar You’ll never miss another meeting when you’ve got the Google Calendar extension right there in your browser bar telling you that it’s 4 minutes or 18 hours until your next meeting. Also super helpful to click on and check what you’ve got coming up, without having to open your calendar up on a new tab or your phone. 8. Tabby Cat So technically this isn’t a productivity hack, but it is my favourite extension. Every time you open a new tab, you get a little pet cat to enjoy, complete with accessories that you ‘earn’ over time and a totally random but adorable name. It genuinely brings me so much joy during the workday, and everyone knows a joyful team produce better work. Download it and enjoy, you won’t regret it (unless you’re a dog person). Let me know if you install any of these or have any recommendations! #googlechrome #hacks #productivity

Instagram’s algorithm: why do I see what I see on Instagram? Algorithms have become as much a part of our lives as our daily Gin O’Clock and much like Gin O’Clock, their importance is often overlooked. They help us to choose which Netflix show to binge-watch next and keep showing us that one pair of shoes that we are desperately trying not to splurge on. If you want to know about the history of algorithms or how they work, you can get yourself up to speed here.  Much to the annoyance but understanding of all of us here at One Fifty, social networks are notoriously vague about the specifics of their algorithms.  We decided to put Instagram to the test. The Experiment We created three Instagram accounts, all made on the same device, with all other factors the same, apart from their gender.  We created a female, male and control (as we were measuring gender as a variable), let’s call them Michelle, Barack and Bo.  For seven days, we completed the same 5 actions across all three accounts: We followed the first 10 recommended females on Michelle’s, the first 10 males on Barack’s, and the top 10 local (London) accounts on Bo’s. In each case, we liked the first 10 ‘female/male/local’ posts that appeared on the feed. We recorded the top 10 feed posts for each account. We screenshotted the explore page. We recorded the first 10 recommended accounts, no matter what they were. This gave us lots of lovely data to analyse, and plenty of food for thought. So, what did we find? I hear you ask. At the end of the 7 day period, we had seen something really interesting happen. The algorithm, (you can call him Al), was relatively more sensitive to certain accounts that we followed, appearing to place a heavier importance weighting on these accounts. In other words, accounts that are recommended to us or the content that we see on our feeds, is often not entirely representative of our actions. A little confusing, I know. Let’s break it down. Even though we only followed accounts that were recommended to us, it was clear that Al was more sensitive when we followed certain accounts, over others. For example, for both Barack and Bo, the recommended list quickly became saturated with specific topic categories of accounts, such as Korean pop-stars and LGBT+ community accounts. What we saw on day 5… This was surprising, as despite these genres making up an extremely small proportion of the accounts Barack and Bo followed, they seemed to influence their entire recommended lists for the duration of the experiment. Does this mean that these accounts could have been added in by Al to test the user’s interests? We think so. Al is likely throwing these recommendations into the ring as a way to test the waters. If these ‘test’ accounts are followed, they become a strong indicator that the user is interested in that genre as a whole, and that they should be shown more of this type of content. This is a key reason that individual posts, rather than accounts, tend to go viral on TikTok. It’s all about falling into the #fyp trend of the moment, a theme that users are being shown due to them liking other similar ‘test’ content. For brands aiming to get onto people’s feeds, these themes are important to think about. The experiment continues…. Unsurprisingly, as we women like to take our time, we did not instantly see the same results with Michelle’s account. We decided to continue the experiment for a few more days to see if a similar pattern occurred. The answer is, kind of. Whilst we didn’t see the same really obvious pattern coming through, the recommended accounts began to have extremely low follower counts, and all seemed to be followed by one account (@juliteworthy), who we had followed a few days earlier. It seems similarly to the ‘test’ genres, Al assumed that Michelle was in/or interested in Julite’s squad and then proceeded to recommend the other squad members to her. This is something that you may have noticed with B2B accounts. If you were to follow Alex, Al may assume that you work at One Fifty, and then recommend you to follow me (a recommendation I can get behind.) I know what you’re thinking, what does this mean for me/my business? Find your Korean pop star (Aka, your niche). Engage with other accounts in your niche. This will likely result in Al steering users that engage with similar accounts, to yours. Be something to someone, not nothing to everyone. The bottom line… Knowing how algorithms work can really help you to love them, and them (Al) to love you back.

Appropriately enough in 2017’s Brexit Britain, the popularity of the iconically British Gin and Tonic owes it’s origins to the imposition of tariffs on foreign spirits (back in the 17th century)… These days, however, there are other factors driving the popularity of the spirit which we’re exploring in March, as part of our year identifying and living social trends . Commercially, 2016 was a record year for British gin exports with overseas sales reaching half a billion pounds , up 12% (or £53 million) from 2015, and up 32% in the past 5 years. According to The Wine and Spirit Trade Association , 44 new distilleries opened last year and 100 new licenses have been issued in the last two years. Digital hype has been growing at an even faster rate in the past two years. Gin or #gin has been mentioned 23k times on news, blogs or forums last year. That’s +45% compared to 2015. Looking at other spirits, “gin” was outperforming volumes of discussion in 2016. With 650k mentions on Twitter, the social buzz around gin is 6 times the size of tequila, 4 times the size of whisky and 0.7 times the size of vodka mentions in 2016. We also estimate #gin was used 102k times on Instagram last year. Two clear topics/ themes dominated: Gin cocktails & branded bottles. By number of followers whisky remains the number one spirit on Twitter, but gin brand accounts have become increasingly popular. Established distilleries like the SW Distillery, Portobello Gin or Caorunn Gin have enjoyed follower growth rates between 2-20% over the past twelve months (Whiskey brands like Jack Daniels UK, Highlandpark or Glenfiddich saw a more stable 7-8%). On YouTube the spirits leaderboard is even more distinct. Bombay Sapphire’s and Gordon’s Gin’s channels are among the top 5 UK spirits channels (next to Bacardi, Jägermeister & Grey Goose as of  Feb 2017).  Brand channelsTotal uploaded video views Bombay Sapphire 9.7M Bacardi UK 3.7M Jägermeister UK 2.1M Gordon’s Gin 1.4M Grey Goose UK 1.3M With 30% of all bottles sold in 2016 in the 12 weeks prior to New Year, the festive season is crucial for success in the spirits industry. In the same period, online retailer “Not on the Highstreet” announced that searches for “gin products” were up 31% compared to 2015. This doesn’t translate as markedly in social. Volumes between October and December have increased by only 2% compared to July – September. In fact we saw the spring period (Apr-Jun), driven by gin product promotions and World Gin Day to be most busy in terms of social volumes. However, the love of gin spilled over on search data: the level of interest for “gin gifts” and “gin cocktails” has quadrupled in the past 5 years. Search volumes start increasing end of October and peak mid/ end December (see graph below). Interesting behavioural point is how “gin cocktails” are following “gin gift” search trends. Are we seeing a “Ginsanity” revival from back in the 17th century? The combination of search and social surges demonstrates people have both intent and expression: they’re looking to acquire information as well as showcase their own identity. That’s a potent (forgive the pun) combination we’ll be exploring further across March. Fun Fact: The gin in our tonic was first used to flavour the taste of medicinal quinine (a cure for malaria) – known today as tonic water. More history? The Gin craze in England started in the 17th century when King William of Orange stopped French brandy imports by dropping taxation and licensing on UK distillation, whilst raising taxes on imported foreign spirits. In 1690 the monopoly of the London Guild of Distillers was dissolved and Gin consumption saw a stiff increase: Gingerbread vendors gave Londoners a new reason to get sipping during the famous Frost Fairs on the frozen River Thames by selling cups of gin. In the following years “Ginsanity” became a bottomless habit. The 1736 Gin Act aimed to regulate this relentless gin drinking. One of the most famous illustrations of the evils of gin-drinking in this period is Hogarth’s “Gin Lane” . #gin #ginandtonic #socialtrends #trends

Great stories rarely begin with “He opened the spreadsheet…”. Jake Steadman, who leads international research at Twitter, sees a different world – one where a 21st century fairytale might be powered by R, SQL and visualisation. Data and story telling might be less alien than you realised. Data and research jobs used to be seen as the preserve of the geek. Hard-working, well meaning individuals who prepared the admittedly important, but rarely consulted stacks of documents every marketing and customer service team commissioned but rarely utilised. Its safe to say Jake doesn’t fit the traditional image – a sharp dresser who wouldn’t look out of place as a Head of Brand, he wears his computer science degree lightly. Having begun in market research roles, he was one of the pioneers for serious brand social data use during his time at O2. Then again, perhaps he is simply the face of an evolving research industry. Social media exploded the potential scope and applicability of communications skills, and the same can be said of research. With more easily-accessible data, at far lower-cost, research has become more prevalent than ever before. Yet it’s much less frequently presented by someone who designates themselves as a research professional. Steadman has the answer to this – story telling. “If I were advising the 22 year old me on what to do with their career, I’d tell them there are 3 types of people in research.” “First there are the data scientists, the people mining the ever growing and complicated data sets available to us. They’re a vital part of the industry, and for me are most powerful when partnered with qualitative ethnographers to bring out the texture and contrast of a story. “The second group are the aforementioned ethnographers. The more data we have the greater need there is to add a human layer to our analysis. I see more and more qual, or high-quality ethnography, than ever before. The point between these poles, general panel research, is being challenged. “Third is where I would tell 22 year old me to focus: data storytellers. It represents a critical point, as tech evolves, and we move away from 100 slide PowerPoints that no-one listens to. How we extract an actionable narrative, and convince an audience, becomes key if we are to add value to organisations. This is ultimately the purpose of research – to help decision makers make decisions.” Powerful stuff, and a reflection of the unique perspective you get working at organisations (O2 and Twitter) which sit at a unique point in history in fuelling the explosion of human communication, and therefore opinion sharing, through mobile data channels. Unsurprisingly, he sees further yet for social data to go “it remains a big untapped opportunity for brands. At a micro-level, the ability to personalise experiences, and at aggregate level drawing large scale insights to spot opportunities and trends” What about the surprises in the evolution of social media, to date? “There are lots. Sheer scale aside, social media has been truly transformative for the way brands communicate with their customers. Customer service has fundamentally changed, for example. And 15 years ago who would have predicted that brands would be using custom emoji’s or gifs?”. Much of this can be drawn together in where he sees brands deploying social data, and social media more broadly, doing well: “Proper audience understanding, grasping opportunities, then empowering teams.” It sounds like a powerful story, alright. You’ll also note that none of this conversation relied on statistics for impact. Where traditionally the route to being a CMO has been where that organisation’s power lies (P&L or brand), perhaps the architects of next are as likely to be those with the data answers, who can tell the stories well. If you want to get ahead, read/do: Top Twitter follow: @getinthesea Top Instagram follow: montypearmain Top blog: I read MediaWatch on football365.com religiously Productive habit: I really love email. I’m a professional emailer. Unproductive habit: @sproutsteadman & @beansteadman tend to get in the way of productivity. Favourite brand: Brands that challenge and disrupt their industry. And John Lewis. I’m a sucker for John Lewis. #ArchitectsofNext #interview #Twitter

We’re here to bring together the architects of what comes next – and our people are at the heart of that. We’re growing fast, and looking to expand the team. You’d be joining a fresh consultancy which is pioneering new approaches, and have the opportunity to work closely with the founders. We’re looking for people who are positive, fast-paced and curious about the way people interact, and want to be in an environment focussed on optimising their performance, to build what comes next. We’re looking to fill three positions so get in touch if any of them sound like a good fit for you. What are the roles? Social research & data analyst 6 month internship Influence executive Tell me more! Want to join us? Then send your CV our way with which role you’re applying for. Social research & data analyst The analyst will be working across existing and new clients, driving the detailed identification, interpretation and application of patterns of behaviour, intent and language to determine actionable insights. You’ll be early in your career, and hungry to learn and do standout work which shapes what comes next, for all of us. Responsibilities: Compiling research reports Supporting developing insight and data products Supporting preparation of client and prospect materials Client consultancy and presentations Wider business support and involvement – it’s a startup environment, so no consecutive days are predictable! Content creation for OneFifty marketing and social channels Skills: Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills Spreadsheet & database proficiency Understanding of Boolean search Knowledge of major social media platforms and underpinning frameworks Experience with APIs Experience/proficiency with some of R / Python is useful Experience/knowledge of some of social science / social network research / natural language processing techniques is useful Competitive salary and benefits package. You can apply through LinkedIn or email us. Full time paid 6 month internship The intern will be working across existing and prospective clients, supporting a range of activities, from research, to data gathering, to strategy development, alongside operational support in business operations such as marketing and business development. You’ll be looking to explore your career, and hungry to learn and experience standout work which shapes what comes next, for all of us. Responsibilities: Research Development of business materials Operational business support Data gathering & analysis Learning Skills: Quantitative and qualitative research skills Interest and experience with social media platforms Strong communication skills Influence executive The Influence Exec will be developing the processes and platform allowing those with true influence to better work with organisations. You’ll be working on the frontline of developing new models of digital interactions, benefitting the content creating community, commentators and organisations alike. Part product manager, part relationship manager, part researcher, you’ll never be bored. This role is ideally suited to someone who is a social creator and wants the opportunity to work in the same field. You’ll be looking for the career of tomorrow, and hungry to learn and do standout work which shapes what comes next, for all of us. Responsibilities: Product development Developing relationships with potential users, from organisations and creator communities Supporting preparation of client, user, and prospect materials Client consultancy and presentations Wider business support and involvement – it’s a startup environment, so no consecutive days are predictable! Content creation for OneFifty marketing and social channels Skills/experience: Experience creating social media content, in a personal capacity Strong communication and organisation skills Sociable – networking and business development will be important Knowledge of major social media platforms and their content and user ecosystems Experience with APIs is useful Experience/proficiency with Final Cut / PhotoShop is useful Experience/knowledge of HTML / CSS is useful Competitive salary and benefits package. #dataanalyst #hiring #internship #influenceexecutive #roles #jobs #workforus

Earlier this year, we developed research around Instagram Trends for 2019, which we’ve since been presenting across our client roster and friends of OneFifty. In this, we outline the importance of Instagram as a social media channel, platform trends for this year, and reflect on consumer behaviour trends that emerged towards the end of last year, into this year. At the end of every quarter, we’ll be marking our own homework, by assessing the performance of our predicted trends. So, which trends have kicked off since January? 1) We predicted that rumours would come true and Instagram Shopping – which previously included a tag showing the item name, price and link to the site to buy – would further develop into a standalone app, or integrate an in-app payment feature What happened? Instagram evolved its shopping feature on 19th March, with the release of Checkout, exclusively rolling out an in-app payment feature for its shoppable posts across 23 cosmetic and fashion brands in the US. Sellers will have to pay a fee and at the moment, it’s possible to buy one item per transaction at a time. What does this mean? Well, for me personally, this is not good news for my bank balance, but joking aside, Facebook’s step forward in its mission to create all-encompassing in-app services across its product suite, much like Tencent’s WeChat, is exciting. This particular move from Instagram, towards creating a near-seamless and personalised consumer shopping journey – aided by a combination of its algorithm and influencers serving visual inspiration to potential consumers – could be a game changer for eCommerce. It’s early days, but it’ll be interesting to see how the platform will further develop around Checkout. Will an enhanced customer service infrastructure be developed, enabling consumers and businesses to have two-way conversations at ease (and in-app)? How will it rollout amongst smaller retailers; could sellers fees and the limit of one transaction per customer be an obstacle? And finally, will retailers want Instagram to be the chief owner of their customers’ data that’s collected from these transactions? Regardless of where it goes from here, the app’s suitability to close the path-to-purchase loop is something that rang clear last week in stats (see below) disclosed at Retail Week Live by Instagram & it’s also something that Deutsche Bank is predicting will add $10bn revenue for Facebook in 2021 83% of Instagram users discover new products on the app 81% of Instagram users use it to research new products/services 80% of Instagram users use it to decide whether to buy products/services 2) #picsoritdidnthappen: we predicted that businesses would continue to create visual experiences that’ll spark consumers to document for the ‘gram What happened? This is one trend that’s here to stay. The power of Instagram to aesthetically motivate consumers to visit destinations that lifestyle influencers are bringing to their feeds is evident from particular destinations repeatedly cropping up, ranging from tourist destinations, like Porto’s Carmo Church murals, through to the latest brunch spots in London. One business we called out in our trends research at the start of the year was EL&N, regularly featured as one of London’s most Instagrammable cafés – both in the press and through its regular appearance on the Instagram feed itself. The café is instantly recognisable for its indoor neon signs, flower feature walls and plush pink furnishings; the Insta-appeal of which has helped to not only drive footfall for the café owing to its expansion at the end of 2018, but to also boost its Instagram audience by 29% in the first three months of 2019. EL&N and other trendy brunch spots aren’t in this alone though; the high street is literally blooming, with pubs, restaurants, galleries, cafes, and independent shops joining in on the craze with flower or fairy light facades and foliage interiors. To see for yourself, check out one of the 68K posts using the hashtag #chasing_facades. Here are some of my recent favourites: The Ivy, Chelsea Garden, shot by @crazycatladyldn Les Senteurs perfumery, shot by @hernamewascharlie Saint Aymes, shot by @bei.bei.wei Maddox Gallery, shot by @elensham Gloria, shot by @lukecabrahams What does this mean? A visually rich, ‘grammable interior or facade is a surefire way to encourage users to visit, document and share their experiences – in-so-doing generating exposure and reach for businesses. We all know that Instagram rarely lines up with reality though, so just make sure the customer experience matches up with expectations; I’ve already experienced or heard of others’ experiences whereby the reality didn’t match up, both in visual terms and customer experience and quality terms. The #picsoritdidnthappen trend in consumer behaviour is a business opportunity in itself though. Tourists are starting to booking professional photographers to capture photos of them standing in front of cities’ most instagrammable spots, while tour operators detail “photos from the week” as one of the benefits of booking a holiday with them. 3) We said that #newyearsameme / #newyearoldme at the turn of the year was indicative of a wider trend that would follow into 2019, through content promoting body neutrality and an “authentic” self, as opposed to “aspirational” self (aka real life vs. the life you never have) What happened? Our trends at the beginning of the year mentioned that mum influencers, together with Jameela Jamil in particular, are leading a stand against body shaming. In Q1, we’ve continued to see Jameela Jamil call out individuals through her personal instagram and @i_weigh movement – particularly the Kardashians – in her Stories and posts. This has seen #iweigh increase in mentions by 31%, while #bodyneutrality has grown by 16%. Jameela has taken this movement through to IGTV, where she’s shared a 30 min interview with Sam Smith about his personal journey with his own body image, generating 82K views – and he has since opened up more about this on his own Insta feed. The mentality around body neutrality has also been reflected by media outlets adopting a similar tone, such as @Refinery29, sharing a recent meme comparing summer body vs. winter body (i.e. the exact same body), together with an image of “things you don’t see in mainstream porn” recently doing the rounds across mum influencers’ accounts in particular. What does this mean? Consumers feel empowered to share their real selves on Instagram, sharing their own body image struggles in an effort to normalise depictions and conversations around these. They look up to individuals who do so, which is something worth considering when planning partnerships with influencers; how authentic is that individual to your target audience? It’s not a new behaviour, but consumers want to see honest content and won’t be afraid to call bullshit on anything that doesn’t meet this expectation. Before you go… which of 2018’s trends are still going strong? 1) 2019, the year of the vegan, has been further demonstrated by the fact that #veganuary2019 mentions climbed by 22% in Q1, while food outlets continue to tap into the trend, either through partnerships with influencers to curate vegan menus, or through new product releases, the most notable so far being the Greggs #vegansausageroll, garnering almost 6K mentions on Instagram. This is in line with the wider sustainability trend we’re seeing on Instagram, particularly focused on cutting down plastic use & dressing “smarter” and more “simply” by creating a capsule wardrobe of pieces that will last years. This has been seen through the @collyertwins sharing ideas for everyday looks and the like of @emmahoareau & our very own @natalieglaze talking about her style and approach towards sustainable fashion 2) #fortnite mentions have risen by 26% since January, partly a result of players sharing photo screenshots or video clips from the game, together with related tweets, and also partly a result of shots from the game being repurposed into memes for the ‘gram – another ongoing craze 3) #ASMR continues to grow, with dedicated accounts and content creators on Instagram. The hashtag increased in usage by 10% since January, to reach 6.4M posts. Food-related ASMR seems to be the most popular, with over half a million posts tagged #ASMReating. Instagram or not, the trend is here to stay and brands continue to use it as a means to reign viewers into a focused state, with Michelob’s advert using ASMR to create the antithesis of “usual” Superbowl halftime ads and in-so-doing receiving 14.7M views on YouTube so far If you have any questions, or would like us to present our Instagram research to you and your team, please contact hello@onefiftyconsultancy.com #Instagram #trends

We mentioned in our previous blog post that September is a big month for upgrades, and that’s partly because this month is traditionally the time when Apple brings out its new iPhone. Typically, iPhones are now searched for on Google 1.7x more in September than they are in March (with Samsung phones searched for 1.2x more). Phone contracts are also searched for more in September than in any other month (1.22x more in 2016). Apple have definitely taken the lead in sending the internet mad with their release of not one but two new iPhones, but there’s been a good amount of momentum building around the phone upgrade conversation after Samsung’s release of the Galaxy S8 back in July. But if – like myself and a sizeable, outraged section of the internet – you’re not keen on the idea of spending £1000 on a new phone, is there anything to be gained by hopping on the September-upgrade bandwagon? There’s no denying that that new phone releases massively drive interest in the possibility of upgrading. On the graph above depicting Google searches for ‘upgrade’ in 2016, you can see clear spikes in interest for the Samsung and Apple releases; in terms of search volume, they’re head and shoulders above the rest, as shown in the second graph below. Look a little closer at the data, though, and you’ll see much of the hype isn’t actually generated by phone companies themselves but by telecommunication and media companies. EE, Vodafone, O2, Sky, Virgin and Carphone Warehouse were all amongst the top 10 related queries for ‘upgrade’ – not even ‘phone upgrade’ or ‘smartphone upgrade’ – showing that these companies benefit greatly from the traffic surrounding the release of a new model from a major brand. Interestingly, our previous hypothesis that phone upgrading is part of a larger trend of renewal would seem to be backed up by Google Correlations – searches for ‘upgrade’ correlates with searches for television packages, new computer software and even house-hunting. Moving over to social networks, it’s obvious that the September chatter surrounding upgrades has permeated beyond smartphones. From fashion to lifestyle, motivational speaking and beyond, upgrade (and anti-upgrade) Twitter buzz has well and truly taken off. That said, discussion of handsets still dominates the conversation – if I’m still on the lookout for a new phone, what should I pick? If Apple dominated on Google, it’s even more ubiquitous on Twitter. UK discussion of ‘iPhone’ in the past 90 days is almost 10x higher than discussion of ‘Samsung’, their next highest competitor. The iPhone’s status as a driver of smartphone innovation and a luxury item makes it a popular topic amongst ordinary users and tech enthusiasts alike, and its yearly September launch was nothing short of a social media storm, with mentions on Twitter soaring to almost 3x their usual volume. In comparison, brands with a smaller UK market share such as LG, Huawei, HTC, OnePlus, Sony, Motorola and  BlackBerry generated nowhere near as much chatter. Even the brands with the highest number of mentions in the last 90 days – Sony and OnePlus – were performing approximately 3x worse than Samsung. Most brands experienced a significant boost in mentions around their most recent product launch – from tech bloggers in the lead-up, and then from prospective and new buyers in the immediate aftermath – but interestingly, many brands other than Apple (Motorola, BlackBerry, LG and Huawei) also saw slightly above-average Twitter chatter during the period surrounding the iPhone launch, as users compared and contrasted the new iPhone with existing brands. Many ordinary buyers bemoaned the price of new top-end phones, whilst others used language associated with loyalty and a continuing relationship with their brand of choice: words like ‘tempt’, ‘betrayal’, ‘loyalist’ and ‘sticking with’ featured regularly in tweets. Both familiarity and financial gain probably play a part in this trend, as customers often get discounts for trading in their older handsets when a new model comes out.     So, should I  follow the trends and upgrade in September? Well, perhaps yes – there’s a lot of good new phones out there, and if I’m trading in an old one, it might not even break the bank. But if I decide on a new iPhone, I might need to get ready to live on baked beans and toast ‘til Christmas.

It’s fair to say I haven’t been on a bike – properly – for a few years. Ok, make that over 20. Apparently I was never that interested as a kid and as an adult I haven’t had much reason to re-engage. Until February, when our social trend was cycling. We’ve lived the trend across the team in various ways, and mine was to get back on the bike. I’ve watched cycling become more prevalent amongst friends and work colleagues for the last few years, and I have to say I get pretty envious that they can just jump on a bike and zip across town. It’s more often than not the most efficient way of getting around (I always have to set off earlier to meetings), it’s also cheap, better for you and you get out in the fresh air (well, you get outside, which is always a bonus when you run your own office-based business!). So I was keen to get back on those two wheels and join the cycling masses. Now, all this sounds quite easy. Get a Boris bike, hit the road, job done. What’s more, I do a lot of other sport, I go spinning at least once a week and I’m not particularly nervous about trying new activities that involve speed. But the thought of getting on something with two wheels, in London, with buses (and taxis, and cars, and motorcyclists, and other cyclists) terrifies me. So I slightly copped out (before you say it) and started with something a little less daunting – a bike ride in the comfort of the New Forest. Roads were involved… but so were some very nice tracks. The perfect reintroduction. That said, I think unpredictable horses and rather large potholes were very similar to weaving in and out of London traffic, and negotiating other moving objects. The guy who I rented the bike off clearly wasn’t convinced I knew how the gears worked (I pretty much did…), so insisted on showing me. He also suggested a mountain bike over a road bike (“much easier to ride”). I then set off, with a chaperone in case I came into any ‘trouble’. I’d like to start by saying I didn’t fall off, at any point. Evidence right here: It did however become quite clear to me what I need to learn/overcome, should I hit the streets of London any time soon: Confidence on the bike. I was very happy going down a straight track with no one else for miles around. I got up some speed and started to test some sharper steering (around previously mentioned potholes). As soon as a car, gate or pedestrian got in my sights, however, slight panic and wobble ensued. Spatial awareness needs work. Any narrow parts (a meter-wide bridge in this case) left me wobbling all over the place. Not great. Zipping between vehicles is an anticipated problem. I can’t ride and navigate. No women-jokes please, I’m perfectly capable of navigating but it was all a bit much trying to read a map, relearn how to ride a bike and be aware of my surroundings, safely. What to do with cars. Two issues here, firstly turning around to look at where cars were brought about an unnerving wobble (for me and said driver). Secondly, I never did my cycling proficiency so I’m not entirely sure of the rules of the roads. Do you stick your whole arm out when turning?! How do you know if a vehicle if going to suddenly overtake you while you’re turning?! Turning… That was another thing. Case in point here – a particularly dodgy navigation of a junction! I stop miles away from the actual junction and the restart is, well, wobbly… But just look at that solid arm movement. Ahem. It’s SO dirty, I was utterly filthy by the time I’d finished – legs, arms, face, hair, all covered in mud. I’d have to buy a whole wardrobe dedicated to cycling because clearly you can’t wear your work clothes while riding. I now have full admiration for those who ride in London. I’m a long way off that but I loved the freedom of just jumping on a bike and getting to where I needed to be. And you get all the great exercise endorphins – which are definitely not available on the Northern line… I will definitely be cycling again in the New Forest, just look at this view. But I do have a big jump to take that bike to London’s roads. The thought of trying to navigate, not being run over or thrown off my bike AND being safe is still terrifying. But maybe, with a chaperone, I could venture onto one of the cycle highways. And, as part of this journey, I’ve discovered TfL have a great initiative, which aims to get people like me feeling more confident on a bike – hosting free adult cycling training in boroughs across the city. And now we’re offering a free bike to everyone at OneFifty, as part of our benefits package, I really have run out of excuses. After all, if over 600K Londoners can do it, surely I can! #learningtoride #commuting #cyclists #socialtrends #cycling #trends