Facebook’s “2012 Year in Review” is a good example. It compiles the most popular posts in one place based off some fancy algorithm, however it couldn’t manage to find my personal favorites, which apparently did not garner the most likes.
And just yesterday several colleagues and I were salivating over Zeebly’s Social Me tool, which was exponentially more exciting. Why? It compared me to other Facebook account users and told me I was “more emotionally stable than 87% of people.” YES! I may be single but am not a crazy cat lady! But I digress…
These data visuals bring me to the most amazing product: the NikeFuel band. It’s a wristband you wear everyday that tracks steps and calories and converts them into “Nike Fuel,” which is it’s own branded metric of success much like Weight Watchers points. You sync to your smartphone NikeFuel app via Bluetooth, and vioah-la. A sleek and stylish dashboard pops up that charts your daily activity based on goals you’ve set. Being able to see your energy expended and connect with other fitness enthusiast certainly has aided my already dwindling 2013 self-motivation to change. The more I talk about it, the more friends I discover using the product and instantly we have a bond. So far I have changed a couple routines: during the week on Wednesdays and Thursdays I make sure to be active on my lunch break or run errands after work since I don’t hit the gym, which gives a boost to my fuel points.
Sounds like a win-win for everyone. Naturally the more I work out, and work out hard, the more I want to wear performance clothing and gear to accommodate “the sweaty beast.” What’s the purpose of getting NikeFuel? Shouldn’t the real metric be weight loss? Nope. I’m hoping to score enough NikeFuel to get discounts on clothing at the Nike store so I can work out smarter, better, and longer. Nike has managed to sell a $150 gadget to me, had me refer my friends to purchase, and in return we all compete with each other to see who can get the most points to get the most Nike gear. Well-played Nike.
Nike is a genius in it’s own right, but all of the trending apps developed to display our decreasing weight loss, chart our spending at the pump, and visualize our ovulating days begs me to wonder—why are we obsessed with tracking these details of our life? Are we any better, faster or stronger?
Following metrics have has always been a way of charting success. However, adding visuals to facilitate communication and digestion of raw numbers has been growing in popularity, creating a more self-aware individual. Now we have nothing to hide behind. You can’t cheat or assume you worked out hard enough; the NikeFuel points don’t lie.
What other apps or services have made you more self-aware, or rather, self-obsessed? Is this a positive trend? Let me know how you think it affects our culture in the comments.
Social Posts: Twitter: What #apps do you use that chart success or goals? I like #nikefuel. [blog permalink] Facebook: [Pull Nike Fuel visual] Can’t get enough NikeFuel points. Thanks for the new obsession @Nike. [blog permalink]
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