Chinwag Team's blog

Chinwag Team

Chinwag is a community of digital media and marketing types, why not get involved in our email discussions, blogs and events. Keep up-to-date via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and old-school RSS.

The SMW Travel Award Program is open for Entries!

Come Fly With Me

Experience the international side of Social Media Week. Enter the SMW Travel Award Programme for grants to see SMW overseas.

The global team are looking for one participant, one speaker and one event partner to send to one of our spectacular SMW Host cities. Fancy bopping over to Berlin, living it up in London or moving and shaking in Mumbai? Well now you can with SMW's help.

Submissions are open, enter now.

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: David Stillwell “Be very transparent about what you predict"

chinwag psych 9th may header

New technologies are helping interpret and analyze how we behave.

One such example is myPersonality, which has attracted nearly 7.5 million people since its launch in 2007.

Developed by David StillwellmyPersonality creates a profile from data on Facebook. It is now opening up to other academics and businesses who might benefit from adding questionnaires to the world’s most ubiquitous social network.

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: Leigh Caldwell “You might say this is what our whole lives are for..."

chinwag psych 9th may header

Chinwag Psych saw experts across marketing, advertising, psychology, machine learning and neuroscience deliver ways best to understand your target market. 

Through a range of academic speakers and practitioners, there was a lot to be learned about how we can gain insights to run an efficient team or what a customer might be thinking.

Leigh Caldwell is a combination of both academic and businessman as the CEO of Inon and a cognitive behavioural economist. But what is that and how did he end up with that title?

// more

Chinwag Psych Reading Round Up: Nudge Unit Failure, Live Brain Surgery and Young Materialism

chinwag psych 9th may header

Chinwag Psych was a huge success yesterday. We have our picks of recent revelatory reading just to keep the mind tintilated...
Handwritten revelations of the mind?
The controversial practice of graphology - deducing personality from handwriting - is still making headlines. Bad news for those of us from the 'chicken scratch' school of penmanship.
Many people, it appears, value the 'information' they can glean from a handwritten job application. Judgements can be made about the character of a person from the way that they write, let alone what they are writing. Would you pass the test? 
Find out more in Discovery News
Is advertising pushing youth materialism?
Over on Red Orbit, an intriguing article looks at a study by San Diego State University asking if teenagers are more materialistic and less likely to want to work to earn money, or if that is just the perception of an older generation.
Advertising could be driving teenagers to want more and work less. Understanding generational trends can mean the difference between a well placed campaign or a failed attempt - and so taking a look at what’s on the mind of a teenager might be less gross and more useful than you might initially think.
Read more here
Vorsprung durch technik? 
If you’re following business trends then you can’t help but notice how important machine learning is to big online companies. 
Amazon is naturally all over this, and is planning the development of a centre for cloud technologies in Dresden and Berlin. 
According to GigaOm, around 70 engineers will be hired to work on tech for management systems and operating systems as well as machine learning to be used across its businesses. 
Read more here
It’s only brain surgery...
Fancy watching a little live brain surgery? Hey, who doesn’t, right? There is an opportunity for those with a strong stomach to watch a live webcast of a minimally invasive brain aneurysm repair on May 23.
For the insatiably curious, it’s a chance to literally see what is going on inside a person’s head. 
Read more here
A healthy dose of neuro skepticism
It’s easy to be blinded by science, but critical thinking is also important when what you read may not have been interpreted correctly. 
Check out this interview in Forbes with neurologist and writer Robert Burton who has brought out a book that questions what neuroscience can and cannot do. Worthwhile reading for all of us and a good idea to help us take a closer look at the information that is presented to use because it’s ‘scientific’. 
Read more here
The nudge that failed
If you’re interested in behavioural psychology and economics then you will understand the term ‘nudge’ -  that is, using positive reinforcement and subtle suggestions to get a person to do something. 
But what if the information that nudge is based on is not quite right? 
The Guardian reports that the ‘nudge unit’ in the UK created by David Cameron has been accused by the VIA Institute in the US of bad practice after using the institute’s personality tests to pilot experiments despite being refused permission.
The problem is that the questionnaires used in the experiments were not validated scientifically and the results are pretty disturbing. 
Read more here

Chinwag Psych was a huge success last week. We have our picks of recent revelatory reading just to keep the mind tintilated...

Handwritten revelations of the mind?

The controversial practice of graphology - deducing personality from handwriting - is still making headlines. Bad news for those of us from the 'chicken scratch' school of penmanship. 

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: William Higham "Gut feeling, instinct and research for trend forecasting"

chinwag psych 9th may header

Missing Chinwag Psych? Fear not - we still have some great content to share with you from our speakers. The day focused on machine learning, neuroscience and psychology and how these disciplines can be successfully applied to business. 

One of the great speakers was William Higham, consumer strategist, futurist, author and founder of the Next Big Thing consultancy. His understanding of the way consumers think helps him to advise businesses all over the world.

// more

Nokia and Brilliant Noise at Chinwag Psych: "If you only get 6-7 hours sleep per night, you might as well be drunk"

chinwag psych 9th may header

Chinwag Psych brought experts from advertising and marketing who were eager to share their knowledge of machine learning, psychology and neuroscience. 

One highlight was seeing Nokia’s Global VP of digital and social marketing Chris Schaumann and Antony Mayfield, founder of the digital strategy agency Brilliant Noise discussing Nokia’s Smarter Everyday program.

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: Cat Jones, Unruly Media “Go Forth and Amplify.”

chinwag psych 9th may header

Chinwag Psych was a huge success, with a fantastic selection of great speakers sharing insights into how psychology, neuroscience and machine learning can open new avenues for business.

One of the day's speakers, Cat Jones, talks to Chinwag about her presentation.

As many of us online become accustomed to social sharing, it’s no surprise that there are practitioners looking into how it can be exploited.

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: Daniel Bennett & Marina Clement from OgilvyChange

chinwag psych 9th may header

Symbolic Head

Chinwag Psych is almost here. Grab a ticket and prepare to learn all sorts of intriguing things about machine learning, psychology and neuroscience in business and beyond.

A formidable list of speakers span academic principles, marketing skills, psychology for teams, behavioural economics and much more. If you’re already signed up, be sure to catch Marina Clement and Dan Bennett of Ogilvy Change.

They will be talking about how Ogilvy Change one a pitch for News International. As a result they completely redesigned the subscription process to attract more customers.

// more

UKTI Multi-Platform App Developer Mission to Sillicon Valley Applications Open

Silicon Valley

Registrations are open for Multi-Platform App Developer Mission to Silicon Valley 17-21 June 2013.

This is the third mission hosted by UKTI and is designed to help B2B or B2C Companies with Mobile App Strategies.

Applications close on May 17, for more information and to apply click here.

// more

Chinwag Psych: Simon White Interview "When Behavioural Economics meets Marketing Models"

chinwag psych 9th may header

Head Doctor

Got your ticket for the Chinwag Psych, May 9 event yet? If you don't want to miss out, you can grab yours here and get ready to find out about how machine learning, psychology and neuroscience can change the way you conduct business for the better.

One of our must-see speakers is Simon White, European Planning Chief at DraftFCB. 

// more

EyeQuant, Unruly & Draftcb: The latest ChinwagPsych speakers

chinwag psych 9th may header

Blog Picture

The list is complete. We have all our speakers for Chinwag Psych and it’s looking great.

Tickets are still available for the conference. Get yours here now.

Find out more about the latest additions from EyeQuant, Draftcb and Unruly Media. 

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: Nathalie Nahai, "Subliminal Success - The Psychology of Sales."

chinwag psych 9th may header

Brain Operator

The Chinwag Psych conference is coming on May 9. Selected experts will be presenting talks on neuroscience, psychology and big data for business.

If you’re not sure why this event is for you, we have a Quick and Dirty Primer. The speakers are key, and they include Web Psychologist, Nathalie Nahai.

Nathalie recently published her book, Webs of Influence , a guide to discovering secret strategies that make us click.

Since its release she has been outlining why thoughtful design and marketing goes a long way.

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: Karen Pine "Breaking the Habit - The Professional Perks of Behavioural Flexibility."

chinwag psych 9th may header

Learning

Getting ready for the Chinwag Psych conference next month? On May 9, a you can find out how neuroscience, machine learning and psychology are good for business. 

One of the speakers sharing knowledge is Professor Karen Pine. She’s an author, a founding director of Do Something Different and holds the post of Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, so she knows a thing or two about how to motivate teams in business.

The underlying message for Do Something Different is learning by doing. So how does this apply to business? We had a chat with Karen about how changing your ways can help you professionally as well as personally.

// more

Chinwag Psych Interview: Benjamin Ellis, "Human Big Data - Using Behavioural Aggregates in Business"

chinwag psych 9th may header

Brain works

The Chinwag Psych event is coming up fast - do you have your ticket? 

If you do, you’ll witness a compelling investigation inside the human mind, and how the results can be applied to business.

One of the speakers to catch is Benjamin Ellis. As the principle CEO of two businesses, Redcatco and SocialOptic, he has his eye on how people can work together better and which software can provide the insights on how that happens.

// more

Chinwag Psych - Reading Round-Up

chinwag psych 9th may header

Bird Brain

The Chinwag Psych event is just around the corner. You can still get your ticket for May 9 if you are interested in learning about how psychology, machine learning and neuroscience might be helpful to your business.

If you are coming along, you can expect some great presentations from the line up of speakers who will be sharing their knowledge. So, what are you going to talk about in the coffee breaks?

We’ve been gathering a few news articles and further reading for you each week so that you will be right up to date about the topics involved. Consider it a conversational cheat sheet and a few interesting articles you might want to consider if you are not likely to be combing the web while you’re working on other things.

// more