Reality Mining

Using technology to measure the rhythms of daily human interaction

by Professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland and Tracy Heibeck, Ph.D.

Social media and the publicity blitz

A media blitz is often seen as a key step in a successful product launch. This view accounts for the current excitement around the use of social media strategies in marketing: the hope that lots of early digital "buzz" will influence people's buying decisions, pushing the new product past its competition. But does this really work? And if so, how? Read More

Making Meetings Work

While you probably know a good meeting when you see one, what exactly is it that defines the experience? Read More

Better living through imitation?

Our culture idolizes the independent thinker and the lone wolf. But the truth is that copycats succeed more often. Read More

Of kith and contentment

The biggest factors in feeling successful are social -- the result of humans being a social species. Or, in other words, if you're helping your kith, you're happy. Read More

Do you know where your kith is?

You've heard of "kith and kin," but what is kith? Read More

Measuring the Impact of Charisma

Can we really tell who will succeed in a business competition before we even hear their ideas? The answer may surprise you. Read More

The Water Cooler Effect

Imagine you're the manager of a call center and a researcher told you of a simple way to increase your workers' overall productivity by 10-15%. You'd be interested, yes? What about when the researcher told you that the key to this was "fewer memos and more coffee breaks"? Read More

Great ideas vs. confidence: Which counts more?

What's better? Having a great idea or being confident that you have a great idea? Granted, it's not always a choice between confidence and a great idea - sometimes you really can have both. But keep those two things in mind as you read about this experiment done with business students at MIT. Read More