I found a great article on New Scientist the other day by Michael Bond, How Your Friends’ Friend Affect YOur Mood

Here are some excerpts:

“Christakis … found that a person’s happiness is dependent not only on the happiness of an immediate friend but - to a lesser degree - on the happiness of their friend’s friend, and their friend’s friend’s friend. Furthermore, someone’s chances of being happy increase the better connected they are to happy people, and for that matter the better connected their friends and family.”

“Two factors appear crucial: the frequency of social contact, and the strength of the relationship. This is not too surprising: we know that emotional contagion requires physical proximity. It is also likely that the closer we feel to someone, the more empathetic we are towards them, and the more likely we are to catch their emotional state. However, how these two factors play out in day-to-day interactions is uncertain. What is also unclear - because it has never been properly tested - is the extent to which emotions can propagate through virtual networks, where the opportunity for physiological mimicry is much reduced.”

Networks of Influence: New Scientist

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The New York Times launched a very interesting product today called ‘Times Widgets’. It’s still in Beta, but I believe the concept is somewhat of a game changer - especially considering the industry on whole is in flux and the future is somewhat uncertain.

In my opinion, this adds rocket fuel to the NYT’s content distribution strategy. This comes off the heels of an excellent and well coordinated acquisition campaign from the publication blending celebrities with other NYC personalities and Times writers alike. Here are a couple of the videos (the entire campaign can be seen at: nytimes.com/conversations

At Mindblossom, we get asked almost daily about widgets, widget strategies, successful widgets, monetization, engagement, an so on. We have been fortunate to have built a one or two somewhat successful ones in the past, but I would argue that the maturity of these digital assets had not peaked until this year. I am quite bullish on the future of widgets and believe this will be something we push much more heavily into especially with iPhone and other devices coming to market. For the most part, these devices have the widget concept at their core.

If any one can share more real world examples in the same vein (and calibre) shown within the NYT strategy outlined above, I would really appreciate it.

Cheers!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

I came across this article two weeks ago, which was originally written by Matt Hartley of the Globe and Mail, and have condensed it for your perusing benefit…

… Microsoft’s new strategy is to turn to its marketing department to get people interested in trying Live Search by borrowing a page from frequent-flyer and gas-station loyalty programs.

Earlier this year, the company rolled out four initiatives, each designed to place marketing before technology by offering users and advertisers perks to try out Live Search. Microsoft believes that by offering financial incentives to try Live Search through prizes, offline advertising and discounts with online retailers, more users will be willing to try the service, giving marketers a reason to buy more ads…. (more…)