If you haven’t spotted our latest social trend, March is all about gin. Why? Have a read of our blog on it. We’ve looked at the data, but to get further under the skin of this trend we’ve been chatting to the Editor of one of the most comprehensive and interesting guides to all things gin in the UK. Otherwise known as The Gin Guide. Said Editor, Paul Jackson, spends his days running a digital marketing agency, but his nights (and some of his days…) delving further into the world of gin. First up, tell us a bit more about The Gin Guide and where it all started? I became a big fan of gin quite a few years ago – my friends and I got into the habit of going to a different gin bar every couple of weeks and searching out new ones to try. When I went online to see what other people were recommending I found two types of websites – those that went into great depth about gin – where you really needed to know your stuff – then blog posts that didn’t go into enough depth. Neither were what I was looking for so I thought there was a great opportunity to fill the gap with something digestible but interesting. And The Gin Guide was born! We want to get more people drinking gin, so it’s where you can discover new gins and how to experience gin in different ways – be that with garnishes, cocktails, gin bars or distillery tours.. So what evidence have you seen that gin has really grown over the last year? It’s everywhere! On the trade side you just have to look at shop shelves, the backs of bars and cocktail menus – they’re full of gin. There’s also been gin events, dedicated gin bars, new brands and distilleries springing up everywhere. It really has been an explosive rise! Any area of gin that’s seen bigger growth than others? We’ve seen a huge amount of new brands and new gins come onto the market – both independent and larger brands who are diversifying. I can think of 60-70 distilleries I’ve spoken with in last 6 months that have launched recently or are launching soon. Many of the people launching gin brands are new to the industry too – either they’ve never worked in distilling or spirits before or, quite interestingly given your stats on gin overtaking whiskey, whiskey brands are moving into gin as well. Do you think our love of gin is just a fad, or is it here to stay? Other drinks are trying to mirror what gin is achieving – Tequila for example – and I do think growth is sustainable because so many people have really got to know gin. It says something to be more of a gin connoisseur, people want to be educated about it and try new styles and combinations. That kind of immersion means it won’t tail off over night. I do think social media has played a role in this growth as well. Whiskey grew quite sustainably and traditionally. Gin has had a rocky road but it’s booming with an audience that is very active on social media, and a gin and tonic does take a very attractive Instagram photo… What barriers are there to the industry’s continued growth? The amount of competition is a both a benefit and a challenge – there’s so many people entering the industry and the choice of gins is incredible, we just have to be careful to not overwhelm consumers. Some bars and pubs running gin tastings and events also don’t always have the knowledge or experience to show off a gin in the best light, but it’s still great in the sense that it introduces more people to gin. Are the bigger brands changing how they approach things? Yes, some are certainly trying to engage more with gin drinkers and to diversify to compete with the newer entrants offering more small batch, premium and unusual gins. Hendrick’s and Bombay Sapphire have been doing more immersive gin events and experiences for example. Bombay Sapphire and Beefeater both run popular distillery tours and have each brought out new gins in recent years, Star of Bombay and Beefeater 24, that give them a presence in the premium market too. There’s always a market for the big guys though, in the UK and internationally. If you’re new to drinking gin, where should you start? I do still here a lot of people say, “I don’t really like gin” or “I don’t like tonic”. We all have different tastes and some can’t be converted, but others just haven’t had the right gin and tonic yet! If you’re just starting, head to the supermarket and look for gins like Opihr (garnish with ginger), Martin Miller’s (perfect with cucumber) or Whitley Neill (really affordable but great tasting with some orange peel). Then match it with high quality tonic like Fever Tree, and garnish. You’ll quickly see gin can be a whole range of different drinks – from sweet and smooth to savoury and spiced. If you’re not sure about gin, give it a second chance and you might just find the perfect combination! And what about for those committed gin drinkers? There’s so much choice! There are some really interesting gins coming out of Germany – they’re experimenting a lot with their flavours, botanicals and distillation techniques. One of my recent favourites is Siegfried Gin. But the best advice I can give you, is keep trying new gins and discovering which styles you like. We have heard it’s as much about the tonic… It really is, which is why tonic is booming as well. Within the last three years you’ve seen Schweppes tonic start to lose market share and Fever Tree and other challenger brands are rapidly on the rise. There’s around 25 different tonics on my desk right now! And let’s not forget the garnish, that can make or break a gin and tonic. Sometimes a garnish can take away from the quality and skill that has gone into the gin itself, but good combinations can really bring out the flavours beautifully and create a perfect match. My advice, don’t be too elaborate with garnishes – harmonise rather than overwhelm! Where are you seeing growth internationally? UK distilleries export a huge amount across the world. There’s a lot of growth in Western Europe, North America, Australia, South Africa and even Japan. Some countries such as Australia and New Zealand are building a reputation for more contemporary styles and flavour profiles, almost like with Old and New World wines. Many of these modern gins are really taking off at the moment and it’s interesting to see how they’re different to more traditional gin styles, with more floral, sweet and bold flavours. Then looking closer to home, I had an interesting conversation with a distillery the other day and one of their biggest export markets is Denmark – gin really does have almost global appeal! So if that’s inspired you to pour yourself a G&T, head over to The Gin Guide first to get some added inspiration. It also has a very useful guide to garnishes, which is well worth a read. #gin #socialmediatrends #socialtrends #trends

Alex [10:45 PM] “I’m watching world cup track cycling from Colombia. I feel the Kilo is the event for you, @nathaniel . Looking at the skill levels on show from minor nations, your speed wobbles would fit in comfortably” Cheers Alex. I had a near death experience and you wheel out the Bantersaurus-Rex routine! Thanks bud. The speed wobble in question (and I call it speed wobble because it makes me sound really fast) was while I was punching out a 60 second burn in the hope of picking up the Strava KOM (King of the Mountain) for the first segment of my commute to OneFifty. I was cycling home, headwind the whole way, it was a bit late but I was thinking “right, no traffic and this should be a tailwind for the KOM I want. Too good an opportunity to pass on”. I ditched my bag and went back out for the scalp. Lined it up, banged it up the bank (eased up on power – had given it too much on Saturday’s attempt) hit the top, head downhill and start getting shake on the bike forcing me to bail out of the time-trial half-way through. Shocker. Loop back round and 4 mins later hit the segment again. Same approach, slight hesitation at base of bank to avoid a car, and hit the initial hill just about right. Fighting wobble, not going to let this fucker of a bike kick me off. Two thirds in and shake coming in again, I won’t bail but I ease off a touch to maintain – bottle pushing on. Hit the last 150m on the flat and now savage wobble on the bike, being thrown around the road like my-first-bike-ride and cross the line hoping a HGV doesn’t crush me. 2 seconds short of my best, 3 seconds off the record. Gutted. Way off and now my confidence in my bike is blown. I’m praying it’s due to me riding like a plonker and not the bike. I can change, I hardly want to fork out a couple of grand on a new bike just to eliminate speed wobble for a Strava KOM. This slight obsession with Strava and a KOM started when we were looking for different ways for each of us at OneFifty to live this month’s trend – cycling, specifically winter/commuter cycling. The data was showing that the fastest rising trend within cycling was fair-weather riders sticking it out into the winter for the first time. I’ve already been riding most days since starting at OneFifty and so “commuting to work” was hardly a change. So instead, I looked to what committed commuters were doing; Strava. I’d been on Strava for a while but I don’t think I’d ever logged a ride, and hardly explored the functionality. If I ever wanted to track outdoor activity I just used my Polar GPS watch. It logs most of the data points and I could compare my previous efforts with ease. I’m used to using numbers to quantify a physical effort having joined OneFifty after eight years as a Lottery Funded athlete on the British Rowing Team. We’d have sport scientists measuring the translucency of our pee in the morning to account for our hydration levels (really!), so recording the time it took to cycle into work was hardly ground breaking. Strava, I was told, did so much more. So fifteen password attempts later and a reset with my mum’s maiden name, I was back on Strava, ready to check out what all the hype was about. I enjoy the grind as much as the next guy, so pushing out a punishing speed run was something I was aiming at from the start. Only the arrogant (or stupid) thinks that a dry run is unnecessary, so with that in mind I rode as hard as I could from the word go (well not quite but as hard as the traffic would allow me). I ride a carbon road bike with plastic pedals, trainers and a large backpack. Only panniers would upgrade me to level 10 “functional”. I pull it off because even an £8k bike being ridden by a Rapha clad jockey has trouble pulling away at the lights with a gusto to match. I’ve got 12 years of three sessions a day in a power endurance sport to fall back on, so Dave from acquisitions is going to struggle even if I am carrying a laptop, packed lunch and enough bric-a-brac to supply a Blue Peter charity sale. I pushed out a few fairly decent commutes and discovered any hopes of posting a ranking time would require a more professional approach. In 2015-16 Strava users logged nearly 8 million cycling journeys in London; 22,000 a day, every day. In recent years London has played host to a number of major street cycling events where pros have tracked and published their race data on Strava. It’s made for cool reading and savage competition as amateurs and pros can go head to head on the same track. Large numbers of well trained cyclists have logged rides over every inch of the capital, making the opportunity to log a KOM quite a tricky feat. Riding on public roads with traffic, pedestrians, changing weather and road conditions actually means you need a perfect scenario to take that scalp. Pelotons, group efforts and the use of ‘dirty bikes’ (mopeds) to give riders a slip stream make the most iconic of segments out of reach to the lowly plastic pedal rogue. Last Saturday I switched out the PVC for cleats and headed out for a segment exploring ride. Proper pedals, no backpack and minimal traffic meant three debilitating factors were removed as I sprinted my way across London to log better times on my usual commute journey. I made my way to Regent’s Park and gave myself two laps to log on Strava; a quiet lap where I worked out where the lights were and then a hot lap to see what I could do against the many thousands that had already set a time. I was pretty pleased with my solo effort and once I got home I went to town analysing the data output Strava could give me. I could see speed and elevation, yes, but the real perk is the calculated power. In rowing we used power output all the time to measure any individual work on the WattBike. Strava may be an imperfect power calculation, but from what I read I don’t think it’s that far off. Absolute and average power is interesting but to produce a fast sustained effort it’s all about the power distribution. If you’re able to pitch in on a power output and just maintain, timing exhaustion for the mark at the end of the course you’re on to a winner. I knew my power had been variable, some of it couldn’t be helped with traffic and red lights, but what I really liked was to ability to see how others had paced their fastest laps. I learned that my hunger to front load the piece (work very hard on the uphill at the start and then hold on) wasn’t how the best guys had done it. The power consistency, and speed difference, would suggest the top times were all done while part of a larger peloton, but I also noticed that I probably fought the terrain as much as the bike and overall this isn’t the most efficient way to produce a hot lap. It means on my next hot lap attempt I can use the mass of data already available to adjust my own riding style. I don’t need to do 50 variants to discover what works best, I can just draw out the conclusions from the 1,178,233 million attempts everyone else has done. This wealth of shared data is rare in sport as is the access to consistent and professional grade analytics. Strava have done a really good job, I highly recommend. If I was to ask for one update it would be the ability to rank solo segment times (no peloton or dirty bike allowed), Unfortunately I think asking for a “plastic pedal” rank index is probably a step too far. So, what’s my plan for the last week of the month? Tomorrow I’ll pick up my dropped shopping and build up for another run at my local KOM. I’m at my parent’s in Durham this weekend so that will give me a chance to take out my brother’s mountain bike and have a pop at some of the road segments up there; it will be good to see how close I can get to the stages up there. You can find me on Strava as Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell.

Olivia and Alex finished January, living life vegan. You can catch up on why, and the detail of how veganism is such a significant trend here. So, what did they learn from going plant-based? You’d be surprised at some of the foods which are vegan. Take crisps, Walkers Salt and Vinegar Max aren’t, whilst normal Salt & Vinegar are. But you’re usually safe with prawn cocktail and most BBQ flavours. Then there are food you might assume would be vegan, and aren’t: lots of veggie sausages, for example The classic “how do you get enough protein?” question. For both of us, our macros weren’t hugely different, and would expect this to be the same for most people who prepare the majority of their own food themselves Doing vegan diets forces you to cook new thing and mixes up your routine – lots of curries, discovery of new products and places (vegan Brunch and coconut yoghurt were just two…) There’s no two ways about this: you gotta love the grain & praise the pulse The vegan community online is hugely positive – very engaged and happy to chat Marketing of products as ‘vegan’ is rising markedly Social events can present culinary challenges: namely having very little choice. Japanese food was a good option for meeting friends and still eating well For Olivia, especially, discovering hidden gems – eating out in purely vegan places which she would never have discovered One of the unspoken secrets of a vegan diet: being able to eat a larger volume of food, without adverse weight impact. This is truly the diet for the greedy Generally, going vegan sees you eat well: lots of whole foods, markedly reduces snacking, and promotes considered eating Overall, it was surprising just how interested people were in hearing the minutiae. It validated the data insight: this really is something which has captured people’s imagination. For both Olivia and Alex, the month was both positive, and has driven longer-term intentions to change diets. #vegantrend #vegan #veganism #socialtrends #trends

London Cyclist is the premier destination of the commuter cyclists of London. With our focus on the growth of cycling as a consumer trend this month, Andreas was kind enough to share his thoughts on cycling, commuting and social, in the capital. You provide an invaluable source of info on all things London cycle commuting. What inspired you to start? When I moved to London I started cycling with my housemate to work every day on Gray’s Inn Road. The more I got into it, the more I started searching for gear recommendations, such as the best bike locks, how to find great cycle routes in London and so forth. Most of the articles I found were geared to high end cyclists, so I decided to write something focused on the everyday commuter such as myself. What’s your objective now you have an established online community? Whilst London Cyclist is no longer my full time occupation, I hope the community will continue to grow and we can keep highlighting some of the issues facing cyclists in London and help direct people towards action they can take. Of course, we’ll also keep providing the same great gear roundups and tips that people find useful. How have you seen London cycle commuting change? Whilst previously cycle campaigners were quite scattered in their approach, there seems to be a lot of cohesion now calling for a Dutch like infrastructure to come to London. You definitely see the effects of this in London, with impressive new cycle infrastructure coming in. This will encourage new cyclists to join, who feel the safety benefits. What’s your biggest frustration? I’d say that I am my biggest frustration! Sometimes I let the actions of other drivers (and cyclists!) get to me. I get annoyed and frustrated and that doesn’t really make for a enjoyable ride. I’ve definitely got a lot better at it though! What’s been your most fulfilling moment? It was pretty fun getting to try out the new Cycle Hire bikes before anyone else. TfL gave me one of the early models and I decided to stop to take some pictures of it at iconic locations around London. It definitely drew a lot of attention! Last year we also hired our first full time writer, which felt like a real milestone. How did you build the community? I made sure that right from the start we had a newsletter that people would receive every Friday morning at 10.05am without fail! In the early days I spent a lot of time reaching out to other bloggers and seeing if we could exchange links. That helped build the popularity of the site at the start. Where do you hope to see it go in 2017 and beyond? There’s a lot of competition online for people’s attention, but we hope to keep standing out with very high quality, friendly advice for the everyday cycle commuter. Whilst a lot of my time is taken up these days at my other company Nibble Apps, I hope to free up more time to work on London Cyclist in the later half of 2017. What are your top tips for those considering cycle commuting? (Suspect you’ve got a well-trafficked piece of content addressing this!) When my girlfriend first started cycling in London, I felt like a cycle safety instructor, telling her to check over her shoulder, ride further out from parked cars and stop in the middle in front of cars at traffic lights. These were all things I learnt at a one on one cycle training course, which have made an enormous difference to how safe I feel on the roads. We’ve written a comprehensive guide to safe cycling on the blog, which I’d recommend as a starting point! How do you find social and email content interact: do you find some channels are better suited to different tasks? Why focus on email over a blog, for example? I’m a fan of email because there’s a predictability to receiving it, so it almost becomes a routine to expect an email every Friday morning. I feel like I can build a good relationship with my audience that way, without having to resort to Buzzfeed style headlines to get clicks! #londoncycling #cyclists #consumertrends #socialtrends #trends

When your life is spent reading, measuring and analysing social media conversations, you get a unique view into people’s psyches. Their hopes, dreams, and emojis. Bieber is everywhere. There is no escape. But so is Holly Willoughby. Is there anyone in Britain not following her? If you’re a mum it seems to be the law There are far, far more people talking about exercise than you’d ever suspect Tumblr is where all the really cool people are. But the assault on your eyeballs to read through Tumblr makes the cost/benefit tradeoff debateable Regional and age-specific dialects remain hugely prevalent in Britain – from London’s youth Every social channel has serious issues when trying to see through the smoke and mirrors around views, engagements and followers. There’s a vibrant industry of fakery. You can get through it, but with caution There’s more porn than you’d expect on Twitter. OR just a lot of men careless with buttoning their trousers yet fastidious on the waxing Everyone loves a GIF – seriously, engagement is higher when there’s a sniff of a GIF Places you’d never suspect are a pretty big deal on social – Stoke or Peterborough, you punch above your demographic weight when it comes to social Stepping slightly out of Britain, Brexit isn’t the only sign Europe is divided – different markets have surprisingly different channel usage, and areas of interest. (Here’s looking at you, Germany, you really love crafting) That use of a popular hashtag in no way correlates to the content of the post. Seriously, trolling for eyeballs has no shame We’re open to additions. Evidence-based social truths, people. Tweet us.

LinkedIn newsfeeds used to be places full of promotions, role changes and occasional news links. Now you’re as likely to see a story about an entrepreneur’s triumph against adversity, or a user post about a touching incident in their daily life which made them reconsider how we should all engage with the world. Not only that, but these posts have tens of thousands of likes. For many people from emotionally reticent Western European countries (OK, Brits, but it can’t just be us) this emotive, personal content can feel challenging, in a culture where that degree of emotional openness, vulnerability and fluency is a-typical. But what’s driven the 2016 explosion of pro-emo (as we’ve decided to term it, in absence of any conventionally used term) content? Overwhelmingly this is down to algorithm changes LinkedIn made in 2015 and again in early 2016, which have driven a prioritisation of a) user-composed posts (over link shares), and emphasised high engagement content. Essentially the most likes or comments your post gets, the more likely it is to be shown to your connections. This creates a virtuous ‘winner takes all’ cycle for content. It also reflects structural changes made over the last two years by LinkedIn to promote content discovery. Alongside LinkedIn Pulse, their industry news service, the newsfeed is the principal way one can surface content within the network. By showing you content your connections have liked or commented on (not even shared necessarily), one is exposed to more content, and all within the context of it already being engaged with by a connection of yours. That creates a mindset and context predisposed to doing likewise – it’s an affinity bias. These structural and algorithmic LinkedIn newsfeed changes have given a boost to the visibility of certain types of content. All of this sits within LinkedIn’s wider strategy of being a content destination, meaning driving user engagement and page views is significant for Microsoft’s new acquisition. All of which is why we’ve seen a surge in posts like this: Or this: Or this: And a couple more: All of which has led to some to complain, or mock the rise of “Facebook type content” in LinkedIn. These posts typically have a rags to riches human interest story, and are written in the first person. So, why do they get shared? In part this also reflects the psychological/emotional context in which people are using LinkedIn – a platform where people go to be the ‘best version’ of their professional selves. Users are an inherently aspirational, positive state of mind when browsing, imagining the career opportunities for themselves, predisposing them to respond to stories of others’ surprising tales of success. We are, above everything, co-operative and empathetic as a species. Prisoner’s dilemma demonstrates this, amongst many other examples. The aspirational mindset one adopts entering LinkedIn supports this. As whilst one hopes for personal preferment, it isn’t a zero sum game, meaning others can also succeed, and indeed one hopes to see them do so. Others’ success is validation of our own decision to spend time within the platform. The emotional response felt reading these stories is also significant. We respond to others’ vulnerability. This is enhanced by the relatability of these individuals, which also improves the likelihood you will engage with the content. Finally, and cynically, liking and commenting on others’ content improves one’s own profile views. It really is a virtuous cycle. The real surprise is that brands haven’t started to deploy this with emotion-led case studies. For example, imagine a bank’s small business services posting updates about businesses they’ve funded. Theoretically it should be just as appealing. So, where next for pro-emo content? Microsoft’s ambitions for their new acquisition aside, it feels likely to continue. It’s clearly added a layer of vibrancy to the newsfeed which LinkedIn has chased for years. Alongside this, the moaners are missing the obvious: vast numbers of people obviously relate to this sort of content. Much like the Daily Mail, it’s fine to personally not like it, but don’t project those views to the majority who respond in a visceral way to this potent mix of technical and emotional content. #algorithm #LinkedIn #content #viral #newsfeed

Facebook Live has been getting increasing amounts of attention since the 2015 introduction, fuelled further by the set piece event Facebook hosted this week. New features for the live video platform were unveiled – most notably the introduction of Snapchat-esque filters, the ability to provide reaction videos, and a dedicated ‘hub’ for discovering live video. Much of this begins the process of expanding live video into an interaction ‘layer’, in the way Facebook Messenger has for private messaging. But most of the discussion has simply been listing features. And most of those doing the talking haven’t actually used the product. We have – both for brands, and ourselves. Here’s our guide to a) how Facebook Live works in practice, and b) the tips you need to know to really make it fly. Shorten your learning curve through our hard-won experiences… How does Facebook Live work? Fire up the mobile app – you can only use it via iOS/Android apps. That means it’s only your phone: a strength and weakness, in that it avoids having to invest heavily in production, but also means there are practical limitations to what one can achieve Next, tap “write update”, then “Add more to this post”, then “Live video” You can select audience at any point through this – from “just you” (great for testing, as in the iOS screenshots below), through to custom audiences you create, right up to Public. Now give it the title you want people to be notified with, and hit “Go Live”… At this point you’ll get a 3,2,1… countdown As you go live it will use the rear-facing camera. You can tap the ‘swivel’ selfie button if you want it to face towards you (useful if one is live streaming a monologue and want to see comments whilst filming yourself) On-screen you will see a live count of the number watching, and also the comments box where viewer Qs appear live When you end the broadcast, you will be offered the opportunity to save the video to camera roll (important if you want to edit it for use on, say, YouTube) and also the quality of upload As a brand/publisher/page you can review stats, rename the video, and caption it, by clicking into the video once it has uploaded. Stats you’ll see include the distribution of views vs length of view, the proportion viewing with sound off, and cumulative views Here’s some handy screen grabs: Facebook Live: tips and practical advice At the moment you can only shoot via the mobile app (this is changing soon for publishers). That means you need to: Consider the audio challenges – phone mics are inevitably not directional or especially good, so you need a relatively quiet environment without background noise Consider the lighting challenges – because phone cameras auto adjust light balance/brightness, when one moves from a dark to a light area the subject will show differently We’ve had mixed experiences over the portrait or landscape orientation of the images. Despite shooting “square” aspect videos on Facebook Live, the app sometimes auto-corrects the image to be ‘right side up’ when one changes from Portrait to landscape orientation of the phone but sometimes doesn’t. Better to be safe than sorry – pick portrait and stick with it. Audio is “off” by default for those who join the live video (as they are for videos in your newsfeed) BUT it is not very apparent to those watching how to toggle audio on… meaning you can get a frustrated audience. Try a sign in the background reminding people to turn audio on People will dip in and out of the stream – do not think of it as a linear video where everyone sees the first ten seconds. In practice this requires regular recapping for those who join later. Plan your shots in advance as “framing” is tough whilst live, especially if you’re not using a static camera set up Invest in a mobile gorilla grip like this. It’ll make your life a lot easier. Remember that whilst currently pages get “free” organic reach with the notifications to page fans that they’ve gone live, this is unlikely to last. Facebook are already placing caps on the number of “xxx is now live” notifications any individual sees, and it will almost certainly end up being ‘pay to play’ – like page posts are for organic reach Finally, learn from Mr Zuckerberg, and make sure you’re actually ready when you start to stream… Why does all this matter so much? What makes it different to any other livestreaming platform? Well, primarily it’s about Facebook’s scale, and the seriousness with which they are approaching it. There have been many false dawns for live video streaming (Remember Justin?), but the combination of increased consumer behaviour normalisation (essentially we’re all happier being on camera than previously), and improvements in mobile video and data, mean this could well be the time. Whilst Facebook have had some product flops before (as when they tried to replace email), the fact they’re paying content partners to use it shows they’re bringing the big guns. The huge installed base of over a billion users means the product will be with vast numbers of people, rather than requiring them to adopt a new one (as with Periscope, e.g.).

So, you’ve got ten minutes a day and want to read the top social media news? Well, our lives are to exist in, and about, social media, but we understand that not everyone’s are. Some people are just interested, some only see social media as part of, or tangential to their roles. Some people are just really, really busy. But it’s human nature to want to know what’s new. What the latest, greatest, unmissable thing is. Well, we’ve put together the speed reading list which you should do every day, to stay on top of the latest social media news. A word of warning, however: there is a huge echo-chamber effect. Judging by volume of mentions alone over the last few months in these sources, you could be forgiven for assuming that Snapchat was the biggest social network after Facebook. They don’t represent the really engaging news from which one derives competitive advantage. It’s also important not to confuse news with analysis. These will leave you informed on ‘what’ but not ‘why’. For that we’d humbly suggest reading this very blog, amongst others… Digiday Advertising Age Search Engine Land The news sections and developer blogs of the major social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat) Techcrunch Business Insider Why these? They reliably cover the major technical as well as marketing applications of social media. What’s more, they do so from different perspectives (marketing specific, tech specific, broader business). #news #reading #socialmedia

Thus far our #ArchitectsofNext series has focussed on people in other organisations creating what comes next. We’re also going to introduce our architects, starting with Anne-Catherine Kaiser… “Data Scientist” has become increasingly familiar (if still slightly mysterious) as a role in recent years. Recently Jake and Daryl have both emphasised the need for researchers using social data to be story-tellers, as much as statisticians. But perhaps being an alchemist is as important in the world of social data? In other words, bringing together the emotional and rational context of people’s actions, and merging data sets to build a rounded picture of audiences. That’s a clarity unimaginable until recently. That certainly reflects Anne-Catherine. A German-Luxembourger by background, she cheerfully reflects on having a broad skill-set: “Maths didn’t click for me until university. Suddenly I loved it – being able to work through THE answer.” Likewise her international outlook (born in Luxemberg, growing up in Germany, and having lived in China and now London): “it’s taught me how to bring out the best bits of lots of cultures – and the importance of accents!” Although, as a keen cyclist, she will tell you the shortcomings of London’s cyclist road network and rain… That blending of the rational and human extends to her work. She’s previously got deep into the minds of different immigrant cultures arriving in the UK, for Lebara, the ex-pat Mobile Virtual Network (MVNO). “No single dataset tells the whole story of something as rich and variable as the mindset and lifestages of someone from a particular culture arriving into the UK. To really understand the challenges, hopes, fears and aspirations, I really had to fuse different research techniques, datasets, but above all the social context of their day-to-day existence.” At OneFifty she brings the same appreciation of the nuances and complexity of human existence to social data insights, to drive what comes next. “It’s the ability to interpret someone’s emotional context which is so exciting about swimming in deep social data – what are the things they really love and hate, that stimulate them to action, and drive them to interact? “Mapping those patterns and networks of social interaction is like uncovering a map no-one has ever seen before, for an undiscovered forest. But where it really changes the potential for organisations to drive what comes next is when we weave it with other data sets to build a more rounded picture of their emotional and functional context – not only what they care about, but what they actually do. There’s a difference, for all of us.” Thoughts on why social data matters: Living in different time zones can be a real hassle to stay in touch with all my friends – and I counted: it is 150 meaningful connections . Social media really changed my way of communication and ability to still be a part of my friend’s lives around the world. I am always fascinated by how much emotion and friendship we can actually share through social media. Imagine the power of connecting this data with brand aspiration and strategy. What I love about OneFifty is that we combine data, human behaviour models and personal experience to build a story and meaningful conversations. How cool would it be to read only engaging and relevant posts from your favorite brands and celebrities? That’s where I see the true value for brands – and me as a consumer!   What comes next? As a researcher, data scientist and inquisitive individual, I am particularly interested in what comes next and how it can help me to better predict the future. BuzzGraphs, Natural Language Processing or Community grouping are just a few things to mention here… It helps us to better analyse new social media behaviour of millions of people around the globe – leveraging the right channels, connecting the off- and online world and steering meaningful conversations around user-generated content. There’s a difference to make, let’s be architects of what comes next… If you want to get ahead, read/do: Top Twitter follow: Socialglims Top Instagram follow: MrVagaabond Top blog subscribe: Cookie and Kate Productive habit: There’s always room for dessert! Unproductive habit:  Information overload and scrolling down facebook for 10 minutes Favourite brand: The body shop

Authors who write novels of great social purpose generally let the work speak for itself, and only later in life discuss their purpose and thought process in the act of creation. We intend to do largely the same.  But, we often get asked “why have you set up OneFifty", “why is it called OneFifty" and "what's the link to social media and digital marketing?". Let's tell you a bit more about the name of our consultancy... Why is this marketing consultancy called OneFifty?  Well, names matter. When you walk into a meeting with a new acquaintance, you have pre-formed impressions, based on societal preconceptions, your personal experience, and personal tastes. But numbers? Well, they carry less baggage. But they contain truths, messages, and meanings of their own. In this case, we were inspired by Dunbar’s number , which suggests that humans can maintain a finite number of meaningful social connections. Throughout history, that number sits somewhere just under the 150 mark, whether it be medieval villages or modern factory units. That’s a meaningful thought to reflect on as we shape how organisations and their audiences create meaningful digital interactions. There are certain aspects of our lives which are fundamental to human behaviours, and they shape our digital lives. Which is what we’re doing through our social and digital consulting and products. Why did you set up OneFifty, though? Several reasons: We want to work with like-minded individuals, as clients, colleagues and collaborators, to be architects of what comes next. That needs to bring together bold people to happen. We believe different ways of business will make it easier for everyone involved to create what comes next – because it won’t be achieved using the models which generated what came before. We want to create the environment which would be an ‘academy for excellence’, allowing people to perfect the skills and approaches needed to create what comes next. Because when you know, you know. When you have a burning belief that something needs to be created, facilitated, and driven, and you want to be at the heart of it. That’s how we feel about using social data and models of human behaviour to create meaningful digital interactions. And we won’t stop until it happens. Again. And again. #name #Dunbar #data #ambition

We’re excited. OneFifty is Go. So who are we? We’re a digital marketing consultancy who use data and behavioural modelling to help brands and organisations drive more purposeful digital interactions with the people who matter. We’ve got a pretty straightforward ambition: to work with amazing people who want to be the architects of what comes next. They’re working in organisations, customers, stakeholders and creators of social content. It’s a lot of time spent working in-house, in agencies, and in consultancies, which has led us to this point. A socially-led, data-rich world is the one we operate in, from customer service, to marketing, to communications. We’re building a team of people who want to be in an environment focussed on optimising their performance to build what comes next. We have the concept of an ‘academy of excellence’ – that this is the best place possible to perfect the right skills and techniques. Does that sound the right fit for you? Then why not talk to us? And read this if you want to understand a bit more about why we set up OneFifty. If you’ve got the ambition to embrace the opportunity that the huge explosion of social data gives us, or apply human behaviour to your business operations, we’d love to discuss what we can do for you. You’d be joining brands like O2 and Virgin Active. We’ll be doing business slightly differently to other consultancies, in that we’ll be telling you as much as possible about how to do what we do. Because, we believe that better business is better for everyone – and that if you do good, it comes back around. So, keep reading this blog, and our social channels, for practical insight you can apply. Our services are also a bit different to others. We offer consultancy, to help solve your challenges, but also data products, offering definite outputs your team can apply. Finally, we’re bringing together organisations and social content creators to produce new opportunities which better aligns everyone involved in the new content world. So, we are busy, and we’ll continue to be so, building what comes next, with, for, and through, great people. Let’s Go. #Launch #offer