Using social badges that measure face to face interaction on the microscopic level allow us to predict patterns of collaboration and gain insights into how we work together on levels not possible before. At the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence we have recently experimented with what we call microscopic dynamic social network analysis.

GPS satellite based navigation systems tell us where we are and how to get where we want to go. In our research we used a similar people-based social navigation system develop at the MIT Medial Lab by Sandy Pentland’s team to better understand our position in social networks. Using social badges - body-worn sensors - we measured physical interaction of co-located people to better understand who they are, and therefore allow them  to better navigate in their own social network.

In a research project with 22 study subjects, who wore the badges during work for one month, we were able to predict social characteristics such as extroversion, neuroticism, openness, and agreeability based on microscopic social network analysis. We obtained control measures of these values with a standard psychological test NEO-FFI). High contribution index was positively correlated with extroversion, and negatively correlated with neuroticism. This means that the more people looked their communication partners into the face, the more of an extrovert they were. The less they looked them into the eyes, the higher was their score on the neuroticism test.   Fluctuation in betweenness centrality was positively correlated with openness, and negatively correlated with agreeability. In less scientific language: the more they changed between being in the center of the conversation, and by withdrawing into their offices, the more open to new things they were. The steadier their communication pattern, either as a socialite or a recluse, the higher their agreability score.  We were also able to obtain correlation between social network position and job satisfaction, and extroversion.

Of course this technology has to be used very carefully, to avoid the risk of intruding into the privacy of the individual. In our project we have alleviated this risk by only sharing individual results with each affected individual, and giving a condensed view without individual identification to management. So far study participants have reacted very positively to the insights they gained about their own communication behavior.

Microscopic social network analysis can be used to complement proven psychological tests such as the FFI. It could be used, e.g. as a further input to identify people suitable for certain professions, for example identifying the most agreeable candidates among potential recruits as police officers.  By simply wearing social badges, a user will finally be able to answer question like “Do I have more of an introvert or an extrovert communication style? What personality types do I have to bring into a meeting to make it more productive? How can I change my personal communication behavior to be more efficient? What leadership styles are most effective for a certain situation?” We hope that future research will help organizations become more innovative and productive by exploring their hidden social structures in a virtual mirror – helping members of an organization to better understand their hidden social characteristics to improve the overall organization.

In the IAOC's continuing effort to profile university and college programs in Internet marekting communications, today we look at San Francisco State University and professor Sanjit Sengupta.

SFSU's College of Business developed an E-Commerce Marketing concentration through which undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to focus their marketing degrees on e-business methods, practices and strategies.With such courses as Internet Marketing, Internet Public Relations, Digital Advertising, Hi-Tech Marketing and E-Business Marketing Strategy, students learn the latest trends, strategies and technology in online communications, as well as how to use basic design software. To demonstrate what they have learned, students get to work on semester projects with real clients in the San Fransisco area. For more details, read this press release.

Sanjit Sengupta earned his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley. He teaches courses in Strategic Marketing, Business-to-Business Marketing, High-Tech Marketing and E-Business Marketing Strategy. He has also taught at the University of Maryland, College Park and in many executive development programs in the USA, India, Finland and South Korea.

His research interests include new product development and technological innovation, strategic alliances, sales management, and international marketing. His research has been published in many journals including Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Product Innovation Management.

In addition, Dr. Sengupta co-authored a book called Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations, Second Edition, which was published by Pearson Prentice Hall. Prior to his academic career, he worked in sales and marketing for Hindustan Computers Limited and CMC Limited in Bombay, India.

I did a online promotional campaign for Peter's new book, Coohunting: Chasing Down the Next Big Thing, written with fellow M.I.T. researcher, Scott Cooper. I was testing a new campaign called "Blog Buddy" that pairs an author with a "blog warrior" for a daily hour of simultaneous phone and high-speed Internet work. It's a guerrilla blogging campaign.

For the Coolhunting campaign we added a risky feature. We decided to make the daily phone call between the blogger and the author public, through FreeConferenceCall.com, so that anyone could listen in. Then we invited journalists to join us on the call.

What we're talking about here is Transparent PR. The PR campaign is conducted in front of a live audience. FreeConferenceCall.com taps out at 100 connections, so for the first two weeks I kept the phone number quiet for fear some journalist would publish it, overload the capacity and crash the program.

Two weeks into the program, we started promoting it to the public as well as the press. My fears of crashing the system were unwarranted -- we never had more than five non-staff on the call. The technology functioned reasonably well, though the user experience was diminished by poor audio and some connectivity problems.

The sessions themselves were a revelation. Our goal was each day to talk about someone doing innovative work, visit their sites and/or blogs, post a review on our blog, post a comment on their blog, and make a personal connection via email or phone. The result far surpassed that goal: over 100 sites visited, reviewed, and blogged in a 20 day period.

In a further nod to transparency, publisher AMACOM Books agreed to make all the promotional and tracking documents public; these are normally internal documents, such as which journalists asked to see the book. They're available on the authors' blog. Patron Saint Productions also put a case history of the campaign, which became available just a couple of weeks ago.

The campaign for "Coolhunting" illustrated a new kind of PR: using site reviews, comments on blogs, and email to connect with journalists and others in an educational discussion. Peter Gloor's recent work is about how effectively people connect in work environments, and why. I hope you'll look at this case history as an example in anticipation of his blog show this week.

STEVE O'KEEFE
Co-Host, "This Week on IAOCblog.com"