"Me Data" The Rising Opportunity for Self Optimization Apps

1 © Copyright 2013 Beyond. All rights reserved. Private and Confdential

The Rising Opportunity for Self Optimization Apps

ME DAta


The research report - conducted in Q4 2012 and based on a comprehensive analysis of global social media conversations surrounding Personal Tracker apps, a category

that has grown by 155% from 2011 to 2012 - reveals the following:

Public social sharing of data - an intrinsic

function of all of Personal Tracker apps

milestones and health information,

keeping record of web and social media

content and the generation of personal

lists) - is also a low concern. Only 8% of

all conversations about the apps are

related to this theme. This suggests

that users are equally happy to share

their Me Data on social media platforms

in return for associated community

regimes among friends, or public sharing

of web content around common interest

categories.

Data privacy is a basically a non-concern

among Personal Tracker app users and

those talking about them. Less than 2%

of all conversations about Personal

Tracker services are related to this

aspect of the apps. This suggests that

people who use services like Nike+ and

Evernote are happy to generate a mass

based on that data, such as performance

tracking, data visualisations, and data

storage and accessibility.

This app category is overwhelmingly

associated with self-improvement. Of

those conversations related to app

usage, 22% are concerned with

acquiring self-knowledge, 33% are

concerned with better organization

and 45% are concerned with changes

in personal behavior. This suggests that

motivation for app usage is mainly driven

by the basic desire for change - which is

particularly relevant at the turn of the new

year as people look to set new goals and

resolutions. (We fully expect a peak in the

generation of Me Data via these apps -

and social conversations about them - in

January.)

The main market categories

for Personal Tracker apps are

productivity/organization. But their

growth points to further opportunities

for innovation by brands and startups

looking to create new kinds of Me

Data, via new tracker services. These

would aim to help people improve

their daily lives across multiple

different Lifestyle Optimization

categories, such as personal

productivity, travel, shopping and

leisure.

Research Highlights

1. 2. 3. 4.

Beyond’s new research study, The Me Data Opportunity for Self Optimization Apps, demonstrates a growing

opportunity for new Self Optimization apps and services. This has been created in response to the growing

trend in the creation of social Me Data - open, freely available, personal data - and people’s radically changing

attitudes to privacy and sharing when using Personal Tracker services such as Nike+, Mint, Evernote and Fitbit.

The Rising Opportunity for ‘Self Optimization’ Apps

Me Data

Data Privacy Public Sharing Self Improvement Innovation


In conclusion, this new study

highlights some radical changes

in people’s attitudes to data

privacy and sharing of personal

types of Personal Tracker apps. It

appears that users are very willing

to overlook traditional privacy and

sharing boundaries in exchange for the data-driven

The net effect of this open approach to data and sharing

is the creation of a new and rapidly growing subset of

data, which is now freely accessible in the public domain.

We’ve coined this growing data set Me Data, which

one can view as a very

personal and human

component of today’s Big

Data trend.

The creation of Me Data

(open, freely available,

personal) appears to be

happily driven by a very

concrete impulse: the desire to improve oneself (in return

for the free exchange of one’s personal data).

Taken as a new trend, this rise of Me Data points to a

Optimization applications in new lifestyle categories.

If the value proposition is right - if brands and startups

can pinpoint the most compelling reasons for the

creation, tracking, visualizing and cross-fertilisation

of personal data - then we can expect to see a rise in

new kinds of Self Optimization apps in new categories.

These include: personal productivity (helping workers to

optimize the time they spend on productive work);; travel

(helping people to optimize the time and cost of their

regular travel patterns);; shopping (helping customers to

reduce the cost of their regular purchases);; and leisure

(helping people to optimize the use of their day-to-day

leisure time).

This development trend is already

taking shape. For example, in

December 2012, Nike announced its

new Nike+ ‘Accelerator’ program, in

TechStars, which aims to identify,

help and fund third party developers

that are interested in leveraging Nike+

technology and data to create new applications and

service models based upon Nike+ API and SDK. (For

further information, see here.)

At the same time, the extrapolation of Me Data from Big

Data in the social domain provides great opportunity for

product and brand planners. Me Data enables companies

to tap into some key behavioral consumer insights, based

upon concrete desires for self improvement. An analysis of

consumer sharing habits and conversational trends around

these new application areas should bring new depths of

insight for future product and service development.

Research Summary Conclusions

“...users are very willing to overlook traditional privacy and sharing boundaries in exchange

brought by apps such as Nike+.”

“Me Data enables companies to tap into some key behavioral

consumer insights, based upon concrete desires for self

improvement.”


56% of all conversations are concerned with

the apps’ ability to analyze and store personal

data effectively. Features such as rich, time-based

performance visualizations and personal graphing

are compelling.

8% of conversations are concerned with an app’s

across multiple devices -

from laptops to tablets to smartphones.

The study highlights the following key focus areas for developers of Personal Tracker apps:

Guidance For Personal Tracker App Developers

Me Data

18% of conversations are concerned with the quality of

the apps’ user interfaces and general user experiences. A

good UI is a clear point of differentiation among apps.

18% of conversations are concerned with the ease of

data entry. Users need data recording to be quick, easy

and intuitive.

14% of conversations are concerned with accuracy of

data measurement. This is in conjunction with application

run tracking. Obviously, better quality data means a better

user experience and better app value.

App Features App Functionality

56%

8%

18%

18%

14%


Creative digital agency Beyond is part of the Next 15 group of companies. Since its formation in August 2010,

Beyond has grown rapidly off the back of its deep social data analytics and digital creative capabilities to

Beyond’s Insight and Analytics team are experts at mining social data using a combination of technology and

human analysts to work with brands such as Visa, Virgin, 3, Sprint, Cisco to develop both product and customer

insights, content and digital strategies, as well as measure the impact of campaigns online. More about our

approach can be found here.

research in four phases. First, it conducted exploratory research

to identify what kinds of Personal Tracker conversations existed

online. The six Personal Tracker apps in the marketplace that

were most frequently mentioned were Nike+, MyFitnessPal, Mint.

com, Fitbit, Cozi and Evernote.

Second, Beyond developed comprehensive semantic strings

that targeted the kinds of highly-relevant content uncovered

in exploratory research, and ran them against its social media

databases. Third, Beyond took the content uncovered by its

searches and executed an in-depth analysis and categorization

of it using human analysts. Lastly, Beyond used the resulting

insights into usage of Personal Tracker products.Visit:bynd.com

Research Background ABout Beyond

Further InformationContactFor further information about this release,

please contact: [email protected]

FollowTwitter: @beyond

Facebook: facebook.com/beyondconsultancy

© Copyright 2013 Beyond. All rights reserved. Private and Confdential

"Me Data" The Rising Opportunity for Self Optimization Apps

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