Introduction to Games and Social Media

Market Transformation Conference, Baltimore, 2014

Susan Mazur-Stommen, Ph.D.

Director, Behavior and Human Dimensions

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

What would qualify as “behavior programs”?

All demand-side and energy efficiency

programs involve human activity and

decision making.

BUT

Programs can achieve greater impact and

deeper savings by incorporating insights

from social and behavioral sciences.

Three families of behavior programs

• Cognition:

• Programs where intrinsic psychological processes are

foremost

• Calculus:

• Programs where the deliberation of extrinsic aspects play a

primary motivating role

• Social interaction:

• Programs whose key drivers are sociability and belonging

ACEEE FIELD GUIDE TO UTILITY-RUN BEHAVIOR PROGRAMS

Figure 1. Taxonomy of Utility-Run Behavior Programs

COGNITION

Communication efforts

General

Cable or broadcast TV

Radio

Billboards

Other traditional media outlets

Targeted

Enhanced billing

Direct mail

Bill inserts

User-friendly bill designs

Social media

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Blogs

Education and training

In schools

K-12

Higher education

In companies or institutions

Commercial

Industrial

CALCULUS

Feedback

Real-time

Asynchronous

Games

Competitions

Challenges

Lotteries

Incentives

Cash

Rebates

Subsidies

Home energy audits

Audit only

Audit+

Installation

Direct install

DIY

SOCIAL INTERACTION

Human scale

Community-based social marketing

Person-to-person

Peer champions

Eco teams

Online forums

Gifts

Calculus: Motivated by extrinsic factors

Feedback

Real-time

Asynchronous

Games

Competitions

Challenges

Lotteries

Incentives

Cash

Rebates

Subsidies

Home energy audits

Audit only

Audit+

Installation

Direct install

DIY

Vermontivate

runs statewide in

Vermont,

combining

aspects of CBSM

and contests –

towns can win a

Ben and Jerry’s

sponsored ice

cream contest!

Games

• Members include competitions,

challenges, and lotteries

• Game-based programs include: Efficiency

Vermont’s Vermontivate and the City of Palo

Alto’s LED Contest

• 9 Game-based programs since 2003

• Most since 2009

• Cost range 3-75K

• Only Puget Sound tracked energy savings;

reported 118,390 MWh saved in 3 ‘Rock the

Bulb’ campaigns; no cost data reported

Gamification 101

• Gamification is “approaching problems from the perspective of a game designer to tap

into the psychology of motivation.” • It attempts to identify the features of games that keep players’ attention and apply them to real-world situations.

• How does it work?• Elements like leaderboards, achievements, and leveling up provide motivation for players to continue playing.

• A leaderboard is a list of players who have the most points or best times in a particular

game.• Leaderboards can be a useful tool for inspiring competition.

• An achievement is a reward for completing a certain set of tasks within a game. • Players might be awarded achievements for anything from logging in every day for a week, to completing a task within a

certain time limit, or convincing a friend to sign up for the game.

• Leveling up allows players to gain additional privileges or abilities after reaching a

certain point in the game.

• In a classic fantasy game, leveling up allows players access to more health points or more powerful spells.

In other situations, leveling up might allow players to gain access to new parts of the game, or more

chances to complete a task before failing.

Kansas-based

TakeCharge

Challenge pits

neighborhoods,

cities, regions, and

even states against

one another!

Games and utilities

• SMUD has Facebook and Twitter

• SMUD uses them to share tips and tools.

• SMUD also has Flickr, YouTube, and LinkedIn

• used to promote additional content like photos, videos,

and links to web-based articles.

• The Salt River Project has a regular Facebook

page, plus comments from FB embedded within its

web page for its Time of Day price plan

Cognition: Motivated by intrinsic factors

Communication efforts

General

Cable or broadcast TV

Radio

Billboards

Other traditional media

outlets

Targeted

Enhanced billing

Direct mail

Bill inserts

User-friendly bill designs

Social media

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Blogs

Education and training

In schools

K-12

Higher education

In companies or institutions

Commercial

Industrial

Social Media and Utilities

• Any format that is primarily one directional, with

information provided by and commented on, but not

created by, recipients.

• Online forums are not social media in our structure

• Key feature is transparency of the medium: anyone

who has a Twitter account can see a tweet from

another account, and the same holds true for Tumblr

and Pinterest; these are all public-facing platforms.

Key features of Social Media

• Easy redistribution content

• Expands beyond geographical territory of the utility.

• Consumers can reproduce and share

• Consumers also respond in multiple ways and with

incredible speed.

• On Twitter, for example, customers can use the @ symbol

to direct comments to the utility's own social media

management team, or hashtags (#) to highlight utility-related

issues (e.g., outages)

Want more Behavior?

• Go to www.aceee.org, register, then click keyword

‘Behavior’ to get updates and invites from our program.

• The Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change conference

(BECC) also has numerous resources, available at:

• Website: http://beccconference.org/

• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Behavior-Energy-

Climate-Change-BECC-3794406

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BECCconference

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BECCconference

REGISTER NOW! BECC: Call For Abstracts

Now OpenDecember 7 –10, 2014 • Grand Hyatt• Washington, DC

Who Should Attend: • Social and Behavioral science researchers

• Regulators and policymakers

• Utility staff responsible for programs

• Local, state, and federal agency personnel

• Consultants

• NGOs and Foundations

• Energy efficiency professionals

“Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change”

www.aceee.org/conferences

ACEEE Energy Efficiency

Finance ForumMay 11 – May 13, 2014 • Capital Hilton • Washington, DC

Who Should Attend: • Clean-tech and energy efficiency investors

• Financiers

• Utility staff

• Local, state, and federal agency personnel

• Energy service company personnel

• Policymakers

• NGOs

• Energy efficiency professionals

“Building Momentum and Driving Demand”