Your brain on a slow website…

Twitter mood predicts the stock market

Does emotion operate at a societal level? Does mood influence the way in which we collectively make decisions? It would seem so. There’s all sorts of stuff out there now on ‘sentiment tracking’ and whether it’s linked to measures of economic activity like the stock market. Well, interestingly, it seems that global emotion and mood, as measured via something like Twitter, does predict stock market activity. Indeed trading seems to lag behind positive or negative Tweeting! Or, if you’re using the fancy stuff, tweets analysed in terms of the Google Profile of Mood States (Calm, Alert, Sure, Vital, Kind and Happy). And no, I’m not making this stuff up. And yes, you’re right, there’s money to be made here!

Read one of the original papers at: http://www.battleofthequants.com/Research/sdarticle.pdf

Also, if you’re quick, you can listen to this BBC Radio 4 programme on the topic: Word of Mouth: Counting Word Incidences

Smartphone or smart marketing?

It seems your Smartphone use predicts your social life, travel interests, risk of disease and even your political views. Have a look at this post on Dr Shock’s blog (links to Wall Street Journal video):

http://www.shockmd.com/2011/04/27/your-smartphone-use-predicts-your-social-life-travel-risk-of-disease-even-political-views/

Make mine a mega skinny choco-macchiato with extra sprinkles!

Have you ever wondered why coffee shops use such weird names? Does it send you into something of a dither when you’re trying to make a choice? Bingo! That’s exactly what’s supposed to happen. Tall, grande, venti… they all sound quite big don’t they; and that’s no accident because it turns out that consumer psychologists have had their sticky paws all over the naming process.

And the bottom line?  If you don’t have a particular reason for picking something, you tend to go for the one in the middle. The result: if you’re selling coffee (pizzas, soft drinks, chips, anything) put the one you want to sell the most of in the… middle. So a three-way choice actually turns out to be a middle-way choice. I wonder if this applies to politics as well.

Picture credit: Surachai/freedigitalphotos.net