A mobile application called Mappiness tracks people's happiness according to their geographical location, but the findings are restricted as they are based on a small pool of people - iPhone users.
According to trend spotter Magnus Lindkvist, this is a trend that will be seen more in the future, as people start to utilise new technology to gather information. Speaking at the MTN Business Di@logue Conference, Lindkvist suggested that estate agents would find this information handy to market areas where respondents report high levels of happiness.
He added that technological advancements have empowered consumers, giving them greater access to information about products, while also widening their choice of products.
The London School of Economics says the Mappiness application, which is available exclusively on the iPhone, is aimed at researching how a person's local environment affects his/her happiness.
It also assures users that the information will be used solely for academic research and that it will be collected anonymously. The school hopes to present the findings in academic journals and at conferences, and the findings are available to users of the application. The institute adds that it will also inform policy-makers “of anything important”.
George MacKerron of the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics and one of the founders of the project says the iPhone was used for the application because it has a built-in GPS and there are millions of iPhone users in the UK.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says while the application is unnecessary, it is significant because it illustrates “how abstract and creative data collection can become”.
“It suggests that anything in human attitude and activity can be measured, if there is wide enough distribution of the measuring tool,” adds Goldstuck. He points out that marketers, developers and researchers can be expected to exploit social media and mobile communications for furthering knowledge in the future.
However, Goldstuck notes that the application comes with its own shortcomings. “It is merely a vague indication of happiness within a very specific market segment.” The application only takes iPhone users into account, he adds. Moreover, he says, it only obtains information from iPhone users who are inclined to download “trivial apps” and take part in app-based surveys, which makes for a small sample base.
The result, according to Goldstuck, is a “vague and broad approximation of happiness”.
Furthermore, he says, people who profess the greatest happiness in social media environments are often trying to mask their pain. “A happiness app lends itself well to that kind of masking.”
MacKerron also notes that iPhone users are not representative of the population. However, he argues that in time, more phones will come with built-in GPS systems and this will allow for greater sampling.
Finally, Goldstuck points out that research based on the application would not be successful in SA.
He says in SA, iPhone users make up less than 3% of the market. Additionally, he says, iPhone users tend to be among the most affluent individuals in the country, which would significantly skew any findings from the application.
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