Imagine that you were kayaking along the coast of Greenland, and needed a chart to find your way … Why not jump on the Internet using your cell phone, and get the map that way? … But here is the problem. You probably can’t get cellular service where you are in your kayak. And even if you can, your battery is probably dead because it is so cold. Or, your phone won’t work because it is wet. Even if your mobile phone does work, and you have service, you probably can’t operate it because you can’t do so without taking your mittens off, and it is too cold to do so.

In this article I focus on the challenges of globalization in Greenland and the possibilities of applying relevant aspects of mobile communications theory justifying the deployment of cultural probes in Greenland. The situation in Greenland poses an array of different dilemmas in terms of IT solutions. Most challenging is the fact that mediated interaction in Greenland is not to be taken for granted. Globalization and the technology it brings have surely brought much pleasure for the individual, but problems arise when mediation reaches a critical mass. According to Ling (2012), ICT’s have become invincible and so common that they are now taken for granted – if someone does not have access to the communication technology, they become a burden to everyone else. This outlines one of the major problems of global IT in Greenland. In this paper, the challenges of mediated technology in Greenland are explored.

Globalization in the digital age 

In the first section I will substantiate prevalent theoretical theories of globalization, which will provide a solid foundation and grounding of the subsequent analysis and discussion. The purpose is to theorize the interconnected tensions between global factors, locality and the influencing role of information technology. 

A prerequisite of globalization is the concept of locality. Global flows and processes do not just originate globally; rather global flows originate locally and hereafter possibly exerting influences on the global. Therefore, the starting point of globalization theory should befittingly start with locality. But what exactly does locality entail?

In order to gain an understanding of locality I turn to Appadurai’s views on the dimensions of globalization and the production of locality. Locality is for Appadurai (1996) “a phenomenological property of social life, a structure of feeling that is produced by particular forms of intentional activity and that yields particular sorts of material effects” (p. 182). Locality can therefore be considered as a type of social process, which requires agency and purpose. This ‘structure of feeling’ cannot be separated from the setting where social life occurs i.e. the neighborhood. Neighborhoods refer to existing virtual or spatial communities, with existing social forms, in which locality is realized. Traditionally, neighborhoods have been reinforced by certain rituals, rites of passages and rules (p. 179). A neighborhood thus provides the setting for social interaction and provides a contextual generative dimension for the relationship between the local and the global. According to Stald (2009), the essential aspect of locality can be viewed by its distinct separation from other localities and its separation from the national level. The important point is the actual perception of the locality, which should be culturally, cohesive and historically relevant for the people who share it (p. 32-33).  Locality is however not an easy achievement, but a fragile social aspect, which must be maintained carefully against various kinds of odds even in the most confined or geographically isolated situations (Appadurai, 1996, p. 179). A main concern here is the production of locality, which is challenged by contemporary problems of deterritorialization, diasporas and transnationality. In particular, modern media plays a vital role in these challenges, “the steady erosion, principally due to the force of and form of electronic mediation, of the relationship between spatial and virtual neighborhoods” (Appadurai, 1996, p. 189). This special influence of electronic media touches upon a core element of understanding the tensions of global IT. More recently Appadurai’s views have however turned more neutral towards the effects of mediation: 

These technologies do offer new spaces and modes of building relationships and communities – even rebuilding the fabric of reality itself. While trying not to be mystified immediately by the claims of these technological forms, we must also avoid any built-in cynicism about what they might do or say. So – localities, virtuality and sociality, for me, would be the ‘anchor-points’ of a broad discussion about the new technologies of mediation, in their various applications.  

Morley & Others, 2011, p. 41

Whilst Appadurai is open towards a rather explorative method of approaching globalization, other scholars are much more critical.  Globalization can be regarded largely by the loss of centralized control mechanisms, characterized by ‘weak states’ or types of ‘no-man’s-lands’ where governing institutions have lost their previous powers (Bauman, 2001/2004, p. 47-56). A central element within Bauman’s theories of globalization is the direct consequence imposed by globalization itself, namely the concept of glocalization. The result of glocalization is a polarized world consisting of globalized and localized individuals, illustrated by a worldwide restratification process of the society, based upon freedom of movement and the lack of mobility (Bauman, 2001/2004). In glocalization, the globalized individuals have the opportunity to move around freely in the world, whilst the localized suffer from inferior possibilities and are tied to their place. Glocalization can thus be regarded as the distinction between the winners (the globalized) and the losers (the localized). Using the metaphor of tourists and vagabonds, Bauman (as cited by Davis, 2000) defines this distinction in the following manner:

The vagabond is the alter ego of the tourist, and the tourist’s most ardent admirer. Ask the vagabonds what sort of life they would wish to live given the chance and you will get a pretty accurate description of the tourist’s bliss. Vagabonds have no other images of good life. They have no alternative utopia, no political agenda of their own. The sole thing they want is to be allowed to be tourists—like the rest of us. (p. 23)  

This distinction is the direct result of the globalization and represents in part some of the unintended and unforeseen problems affecting everybody – globally or locally. A key issue here is the impact of mediated technology, “the distinction between far-away and close-by, or here and there, have been all but made null and void once transferred to the cyberspace and subjected to the online or on-air logic” (Bauman, 2011). Consequently, any mutual communication between the two separate poles has disappeared and is worsened by the disintegration of time and space, made possible by these technologies (Bauman, 2001/2004, p. 59). With mediated technologies, localized individuals are therefore doomed to watch idly by, whilst the rest of world goes on.

As the final part of this section I will assess the ‘alter ego approach’ to Bauman, namely the more proponent globalization views as offered by Urry. Contrasting the theories of traditional globalization, the mobilities paradigm breaks with the idea that intense social connections require close physical proximity. Using the airport as an example, Urry (2007) describes how these institutions, facilitated by digital technologies, contributes to the production of cultural communities, urbanism, and cosmopolitan identities.

Mobilities also includes movements of images and information on local, national, and global media. The concept embraces one-to-one communications such as the telegraph, fax, telephone, mobile phone, as well as many-to-many communications effected through networked and increasingly embedded computers … it involves examining how the transporting of people and the communicating of messages, information, and images increasingly converge and overlap through recent digitisation and extension of wireless infrastructures…

Sheller & Urry, 2006, p. 212

Based on the increasing movement and circulation of people and information (made possible by travel and ICT’s), the mobilities paradigm thus outlines how social connections are maintainable across large distances (Urry, 2007). The distinctions between the local/global are no longer essential since mobility entails “a broader theoretical project aimed at going beyond the imagery of ‘terrains’ as spatially fixed geographical containers for social processes. It calls into question scalar logics such as local/global as descriptors of regional extent” (Hannam, Sheller & Urry, 2006, p. 5). In order to understand the global flows, we must therefore acknowledge that the use of mediated technology does not impede social relations, but rather enhances the connection between individualized networks, “Mobilities thus entail distinct social spaces that orchestrate new forms of social life around such nodes…” (Sheller & Urry, 2006, p. 213). In contrast to the utopian aspects put forward by Bauman, the mobilities paradigm thus seeks to explore the positive consequences, which mediation technologies affords. 

This section has offered different and opposing perspectives and views regarding globalization and the influence imposed by mediated technology. This is an important first step towards understanding the processes entailed in global IT solutions, whether these are comparative or paradoxes. In the next section I will draw upon these theories in the analysis of the current situation in Greenland.  

Perspectives on Greenland

Greenland is a fascinating and challenging country in terms of digital communication technologies. Being the largest island in the world, mostly covered by vast icecaps, naturally creates barriers in the communication infrastructure. Internet access and mobile phone coverage, which we in Denmark take for granted, are services mainly limited to the larger cities in Greenland. The townships and settlements only have access to satellite services, which are slow and extremely expensive. The sole mobile provider of Greenland, TELE claims that 99% coverage is possible, but the outer districts in the north, and some in the south, do not have cell coverage (Rygaard, 2008, p. 264). As of 2012, only about half of the households in Greenland have access to the Internet (Rygaard, 2013, p. 165). This creates a problem for a country wanting to break the isolation and embracing what the outside world has to offer. In spite of the high prices, the use of ICT’s in the cities has been quite substantial, but there are problems, “The impact of modern media (film, television, video, and the internet) has played an essential role in the globalization process in Greenland, not least in the way in which today’s Greenlandic youth see themselves as citizens of the world” (Rygaard, 2008, p. 260).

The flow of information has mainly been one-way, “globalization has thus far primarily been a story of successfully embedding the global into the local” (Rygaard, 2008, p. 268). The historical media consumption in Greenland has been characterized mainly by American and Danish culture. The young people believe they know what goes on in the world, but the world on the other hand is rather ignorant in terms of Greenland. In this light one could argue that the Greenlanders have become glocalized. This is especially evident when considering the strong sense of locality, witnessed by a shortage of ambitions among the young people in Greenland. The young Greenlanders strongly value their spatial familiarity-connections and are generally non-demanding in their future wishes (Rygaard, 2008, p. 267). Essentially, they do not feel like inhabitants of the global village (Stald, 2009, p. 279), they just feel like Greenlanders. As Rygaard (2003) stated “…we can say that the majority are much more subjected to personal experiences than mediated experiences. Only very few have fantasies of becoming a member of a globalized elite…” (p. 304). This sounds like the typical trademarks of the vagabonds.  While this could be viewed as a positive facilitator in terms of “the production of locality”, this does not bode particularly well with strong wishes of attracting the attention of the outside world – and eventually becoming independent from the Danish block grant.

Another view put forward by Rygaard (2003), is the complete absence of globalization outside Nuuk i.e. in the outer districts of Greenland. Currently, in these outskirts of Greenland, neither globalization nor romantic notions of mobilities prevails.

In practice, the global flow in the outer districts is so insignificant and so spasmodic that the existing reality leaves much to be desired. Although the traffic between Greenland and the rest of the world is mainly one-way and chiefly conveys merchandise and some curlural flow, the inertia of the outer districs prevents the global ‘Goliath’ from dominating the local ‘David’.

Rygaard, 2003, p. 305

This is truly the manifestation of locality in the wild. As Rygaard (2003) suggests, the answer to this reality would be to ask for more globalization in these areas. The situation in these outer districts is especially important, since it represents an interesting paradox of globalization; does the small settlements face annihilation and despair due to localized isolation or will increased global flows create glocalization or could it in fact be the savior of these communities? 

The situation in Greenland is thus characterized by tensions between Greenland and the global world and by tensions between localities within the confinements of the neighborhoods in Greenland i.e. the settlements and townships.  In respect to the mobilities paradigm, which emphasize that all places are essentially networked and nowhere can be islands (Sheller & Urry, 2006, p. 209), it seems that facilitation using mediated technology should start in these outer districts. This is exactly where cultural probes should be deployed. However, due to challenges such as accessibility, poverty, literacy and the digital divide encountered in these areas, mediated initiatives must be carried out with the utmost respect to the localized conditions. In the following two sections I will first shortly address important design challenges involved with the probes, followed by further elaboration of the motivation behind these probes.                   

Design for the wild

The specific conditions and the context are essential factors when developing digital artifacts, “in order to design a tool, we must make our best efforts to understand the larger social and physical context within which it is intended to function” (Buxton, 2007, p. 37). The first step towards designing a well-founded digital solution in Greenland, should therefore entail ethnographic research in the form of participant observation (Goffman, 1989). This could possible be followed by an iterative social-research process by setting a hypothesis, creating a research design, data collection, data analysis and finally hypothesis testing (Bailey, 2007, p. 3-11). Unfortunately we have not had the luxury of traveling to Greenland and therefore our assumptions regarding solutions are more or less conjectural. It is however not entirely impossible to imagine at least some of the situations encountered by the locals in their own milieu. Furthermore, cultural probes are actually design methods in their own right and are often used to gather inspiration and provoke inspirational responses in diverse communities (Bimber & Flanagin et al., 2005). In this light, our suggestion of deploying the probes could be regarded merely as a first step within a larger process of introducing mediated technology in the outer districts of Greenland. 

The concept of the cultural probes is rather simple; the probe is essentially an instrument deployed to find out about the unknown. This is achieved by collecting imagery, video, sound and text with the device. The probes should naturally be sturdy devices able to withstand the artic climate, but most importantly – they should be easy to use in order to account for digital inexperience among the locals in the settlements. “They should not have to make place for the device in the mobile situation, but just use it instantly in the situation at hand: it should just take place” (Kristoffersen & Ljungberg, 1999). This is one of the common challenges of ubiquity whenever mobile devices are designed. Additionally, the material collected by these probes should of course be fed back and forth – and shared across the networks. This is achievable using central hubs where the probes are able to send and receive the material. In this way probes can both as recording and multimedia playing devices, which benefits locals in areas where such technology is inaccessible. 

Mediated cohesion and collective action 

But how does the deployment of digital probes allow Greenland to strengthen locality and globalize the local Greenland? The aim of the cultural probes is a twofold process. Firstly, the collection of the Greenlandic culture, through the distributed probes, should serve as shared frame of reference by facilitating the creation of a strong sense of locality, not just in the townships and settlements, but in Greenland as a whole. The rationale of the probes is therefore to mimic some of the special social capabilities of mobile telephony. According to Ling (2008), the mobile phone has become a mediated totem, which strengthens social cohesion through mediated ritual interactions.

Mediated interaction can enhance the broader co-present forms of interaction and can also function in its own right as a means through which members of a group can engage one another and develop a common sense of identity … the directness and ubiquity of the channel can lead to the tightening of social bonds within a group.

Ling, 2008, p. 119

Ling refers mainly to the affordances of mobile phones as mediated interaction devices, but the aim of the probe is similar in the sense of facilitating increased flow of information, in-between the outer districs and back to the cities. The hypothesis is that the probes will create stronger bonds and social capital by engaging the communities in one-to-one or many-to-many types of interaction. It is however worth noting that probes are limited by their type of asynchronous interaction, which could pose similar delays in the information flow as witnessed by the non-simultaneous VHS days in Greenland (Rygaard, 2013, p. 167). This is obviously a bit of a deal breaker, but until cell coverage in these areas is affordable, what is the alternative?    

The second goal of the probes is the collection of the authentic culture in Greenland. Such a collection contains a great branding potential, which can be utilized strategically in order to attract global interests. The probes facilitate a recalibration of collective action, which is characterized by the mediated actions taken by more people in the pursuit of collective goals (Bimber & Flanagin et al., 2005). When multiple Greenlanders participate in transforming their private discourse into a public discourse, the use of the probe crosses a boundary into non-rival collective goals. In the long term the collection of authentic material will build an authentic history of the culture, which can be used in the ever-important branding initiatives of Greenland, as seen on platforms such as greenland.com (Rygaard, 2008, p. 260). The fact that stories are collected and created by the locals themselves creates an authenticity and agency, which theoretically motivates the locals to participate.  

Going local or global?

What has been suggested above can be viewed broadly as an attempt of cohesive gathering of the Greenlandic history and culture. The idea thus builds strongly on the concepts of crowdsourcing and citizen journalism. In this way each participant who uses the probe essentially becomes ambassadors of Greenland. On a micro scale the idea aims at fostering the strong local mooring throughout Greenland, and on the macro scale it aims at facilitating a globalized outward informational flow. The effect is in theory a tightly localized Greenland, which consist of members of the global village who embrace the increased informational flow. This proposal is however not without its challenges. First of all, engaging the inhabitants in the outer settlement could be more difficult than expected. Due to their isolation, we cannot assume that the locals will ever want to jump the bandwagon towards globalization, because what is really in it for them? One could argue that the rationale of the entire idea rests on an arrogant ‘globalized’ notion that the whole world should be interconnected and enlightened. This question is also addressed by Rygaard (2003) asking, “…who are the ones who wants to preserve the local culture? It is rarely the people living in the culture in question…” (p. 298). For Rygaard there is no alternative to globalization, neither in Greenland nor in the rest of the world. On this token it is worth observing the ever-increasing interest towards the minerals and oil hidden in the subsoil of Greenland. This development has the potential to completely transform this island into a technological hotbed, swarming with cheap and accessible ICT’s. In this light it may perhaps seem a bit silly to introduce a rather inferior communication device, such as a cultural probe. However, until the development permits otherwise, this is a good starting point towards reaping the benefits of globalization.

Conclusion      

The current situation in Greenland is characterized by the distribution of glocalized youngsters living in the cities and the locals living isolated from any globalization in the outer districts. Utilizing the potential of digital cultural probes, the population in the outskirts of Greenland can be supported in gathering and co-creating the Greenlandic history and culture.  In this manner the flow of information and communication is increased throughout the country. Borrowing from the concept and affordances of mediated interaction technology, such as the mobile telephone, the use of the probes is theorized to strengthen the social cohesion by connecting individuals throughout the country. The probes create agency, purpose and facilitates the production of locality within the spatial confinements of the Greenland. The resulting material, collected using the probes, contains the authentic stories about the contemporary life in Greenland – created by the locals themselves. Such material can be used in the marketing initiatives aimed at creating increased awareness and interest from the outside world. In this way the population of Greenland becomes key players in their path towards pushing the country into the global.

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Maintaining physical health using fitness applications on the smartphone has become an increasingly popular trend in today’s society. The technical capabilities of the smartphone allows for the tracking and recording of user movement, which is the hallmark of all location based services. This paper presents an investigation of Endomondo, a Danish fitness application and social fitness network. Based upon an analysis of the application and gathered user-survey data, the paper seeks to uncover underlying motivational facilitators, which are created by the application. The research presented here, finds that users become increasingly engaged and motivated in workouts when using this app. Utilizing the social elements of gamification and the affordances of a location based network, the app succeeds in keeping the user motivated. Furthermore, the users become motivated by the locative tracking data collection, which is automatically gathered and saved during workouts.

Keywords: Fitness apps, Endomondo, location aware services, motivation, gamification, quantification

1. Introduction

Mobile communication technologies are increasingly influencing our lives. To a great extent, they have become ubiquitous artifacts. The modern smartphone is specifically an amazing device. Its uses seem almost endless. With this device we are able to coordinate our everyday lives, keep in touch with our loved ones, maintaining our social networks, watch our favorite TV shows or handle our taxes. Of course, much of this was also possible before the arrival of the smartphone, as seen with the basic texting and voice calling capabilities of lower entry cell phones. However, what makes the smartphone especially interesting, is the capability brought forward by its large screen, fast processor, wireless transceivers/senders and its fast mobile broadband data connections.    

Utilizing some of these capabilities, the smartphone has now entered the arena of personal health, which promises to be a big deal in 2013. A new trend in smartphone applications, and indeed in society itself, seems to be geared towards maintaining and leading healthy lifestyles in one form or another. If you want to shed a few pounds, optimise your sleeping pattern, quit drinking or simply monitor your blood glucose levels, there is an app out there to help you. In this sense the modern smartphone is becoming an extension of our very body, always there to monitor and guide us towards specific health goals. This new trend has even spawned a new term mHealth, which is broadly defined as the emerging mobile communications and network technologies for healthcare systems (Istepanian, 2005).

Within the arena of health applications are those specifically geared towards physical activity, namely the fitness apps. Fitness applications such as Strava, Nike+, Runkeeper, SoFit and Endomondo are examples of smartphone applications, which facilitate physical activity by tracking all sorts of outdoor workouts such as running, cycling, swimming or similar types of sport. What makes these apps especially interesting, is their distinct ability to influence, for good and for worse, the lives and behavior of the people using them. One such example, albeit a tragic one, can be found in the case of an American cyclist who lost his life in a bike crash while trying to reclaim his first place ranking in one of Strava integrated competitions (Forbes, 2012). As this example illustrates, tragic as it is, these applications make for a compelling research area within the field of mobile communication. Therefore the focus of this paper is aimed towards these types of applications but in particular the Danish sports tracker; Endomondo.com           

Endomondo is a personal trainer application and part fitness-focused social network. The app is used to track workouts, which are shared with a community of like-minded fitness enthusiast. Users can cheer each other on, through comments or pep-talks (transmitted to the receiving smartphone during the workout). Furthermore, challenges between the users are an integrated part of the application framework. Endomondo describes itself as:

A social sports and fitness network with community tools that enable people worldwide to engage around their passions for living vital, healthy lives. It centers on activities and sports that unify physically active individuals and promote exercise for recreational and serious athletes alike. The mission is to make fitness fun and engaging.

Endomondo, 2013

The motivation to use such an application may be plentiful, ranging from the basic desire to lose weight, maintain certain fitness levels, burning more calories than your colleague or getting fit to run the New York Marathon. This paper seeks to investigate the impact this application has on its users, no matter what their individual goals might be i.e. losing weight, getting fit etc.

2.1 Research question

Through analysis of social impacts of the app, the paper seeks to identify if Endomondo is in fact changing the fitness habits of its users and why. A working hypothesis is that people become increasingly motivated to exercise when they use such a fitness application. Therefore, the main question for this paper is: Does the smartphone application Endomondo affect the motivation and fitness habits of its users and why?

2. Method

The approach of this paper is based on a triangulation approach, which is broadly defined by Denzin (1978, p. 291) as “the combination of methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon”. In the case of this paper, this is achieved by the combination of theoretical analysis and analysis of quantitative survey data.

2.1 Theoretical Analysis

The theoretical analysis aims at outlining Endomondo within the context of location aware services. Specifically the analysis is concerned with the elements and specific affordances present within the ecosystem of Endomondo, which might support user motivation.

2.2 Quantitative data collection

At the onset of this project an online with the users of the Endomondo survey was conducted. The purpose of the survey was to gain insight into the most valued features and general usage patterns of the application. The survey was advertised within the Endomondo forum threads. The survey received answers from a total of 113 Endomondo users, which forms part of the following analysis.

3. Location based services

Location based services (LBS) are those services where the geographic location of the users is an integral part of the application. However, the key to LBS is the user’s involvement and their distinct ability to interact, but more importantly, generate the content. Hence, an LBS is characterized as a service, which enables users to determine their location, access information related to the location and dynamically interact with the information or content. In order to make the LBS function, the following four components are required: a mobile handset, a content provider, the communication network and the positioning component (Aktihanoglu & Ferraro, 2011). Essential to LBS’s is the positioning component, which makes it possible for the system to determine the actual location of the handset. There a couple of methods of establishing the position of a device, such as cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi and GPS. In the case of Endomondo, the GPS is utilized since this provides an accurate tracking position of the user whilst conducting workouts outdoors.      

Within the ecosystem of LBS exists the location based social networks (LBSNs). The basic premise of LBSN is that it allows the users of mobile devices to exchange details of their location as a key point of interaction i.e. the user interacts with the application in order to make their current location known on the network. Depending on the service, the shared location information can be viewed by a subset of other users e.g. only friends of the user, or the entire network of users (Curran & Traynor, 2013). Endomondo falls within the above category of one such location based social network and it is indeed the social capabilities of the application, which are highlighted.

The social dimension is what really makes Endomondo engaging and sets it apart from other fitness apps. Your friends can follow your workout live and if they think you need their help to give it a little extra, they can send you peptalks that are read aloud to you in real time – a popular feature used for both encouragement and harassment! The app also allows you to race against a friend’s previous workout with help from the audio coach

Endomondo, 2013

But what does this mean in terms of driving motivation and altering behavior of the people. In order to answer this question we need to probe into the workings of the application and its users.

3.1 Overview of Endomondo

Endomondo can be broken up in two main parts; the web-based desktop application and the actual smartphone application. The smartphone application is an essential part in the system since it is responsible for recording the real-time movement i.e. location, speed and distance of the active user. When the users initiate their workout, the tracked information is automatically uploaded and stored on the Endomondo web application. Previously, management of tracked data and interaction with other users was only possible on the desktop application but the boundary between the two parts are becoming increasingly blurred, since the smartphone application can now do most of what is possible with the desktop application.

Overall, the system function in much the same way as any other online social network site i.e. Google+ or Facebook. Within the network, the user maintains a profile and has the possibility of interacting with a network of known and unknown users. Highlighted features consist of commenting and “liking” functions and public workout competitions. Furthermore, users have the possibility to challenge one or more friends in individual workout competitions, share annotated favorite workout routes, compare personal best results with other users or evaluate individual workout data gathered during the workouts. The general use of these features is analyzed in the following section.

3.2 Dissecting the collected user data

The purpose of the user survey was to identify, which features the users value the most and if the application has indeed altered any behavior towards new fitness habits. Figure 1 shows the age and gender distribution across the network of users. A quite substantial majority of the users are males within the age range between 26-40 yrs. followed by a second group of users within the range of 41-55 yrs.

The fact that the majority of the users belong to a mature segment of users is somewhat surprising and goes against the common assumption that young people are more likely to this type of application. According to Castells (2007), “several of the trends that seem to be most significant in transforming communicative practices have been observed primarily among young users of wireless communication” (p. 246). It should therefore be highly expected to see more than 4% of users under the age of 19. A possible reason can perhaps be explained by the nature of this specific type of application combined with life passages undertaken by users. Ling and Yttri (2002) states “The child’s experience of and attitude towards technology is likely to be different from their parents’ and perhaps even their older siblings. Thus, one must select that information that is relevant rather than accept it whole cloth” (p. 10). Teens are generally more focused on tending to their social relationships, whereas older segments may be in a state of life where the traditional family life takes precedence and focus is increasingly aimed towards personal health and well being.

Figure 2 shows the fitness level of the users before and after joining Endomondo. The numbers are somewhat arbitrary since they are based on the subjective opinion of each respondent. They do nevertheless indicate a clear tendency towards improved fitness levels on users after joining the network. This tendency is supported by the fact that 87% of the respondents agrees or strongly agrees that Endomondo has motivated them to work out more often.  This is rather important since it clearly indicates a behavioral change. The users are not just increasingly motivated to do the workouts; they actually go out and do them. The relatively high percentage of “poor-shaped” beginners, further suggests that the motivation to train has indeed been fueled upon downloading the application.

But which features are most valued by the users and what is the actual driving force of these behavioral changes? With a couple of exceptions, the overall usage patterns of the various features such as peptalks, comments, audio coach and “likes” are quite fragmented. These features seem to be of little importance for a large portion of the users. In fact, when asked whether peptalks, likes or comments increase the motivation of the user, only 46% agrees or strongly agrees. This is rather surprising considering these are the exact social dimensions, which Endomondo emphasize as being specially engaging features of the network. The responses reveal two other areas, which are highly valued by the users; the challenges and the individual statistics.

In the public challenges on Endomondo, users are competing across the network to burn the most calories, or track most miles. The challenges are often sponsored and users get the chance to win different prices. A total of 62% users agree or strongly agree that these challenges makes them workout more. This indicates that there is a great deal of competitive behavior at work here, which will be discussed in the following section.
Figure 3 shows the use of individual statistical data on the network. The statistical data section is the most commonly used feature within the network. 57% answered that they are using this feature a great deal, whilst 30% said they are using it quite a bit.

The collected data from the survey broadly suggests that the users motivation to participate is mainly fueled by achieving personal goals rather than nurturing social interests. This is not entirely unexpected, since the prominent workout forms within the network such as running, cycling or swimming are often individual activities. The next section will discuss what exactly this means in the greater context of the application.

4. Discussion

It has been established that the application does in fact motivate the users towards physical activity. The following section is divided into two parts, each discussing how the application actually facilitates this engagement and motivation. Firstly, the social aspect of the application is discussed and secondly the app is discussed as being an instrument of the individual.

4.1 Gaming and social cohesion

The fact that the users seem to care little about certain socially oriented functions does not mean the application is stripped of social impacts. The application can be viewed as more than just the fitness network, it can also be considered as a location-based game. Location based mobile games (LBMGs) are quite similar to the location based networks described above, but with the added inclusion of some gaming logic. According to Gordon and de Souza (2011), location based mobile games are characterized by incorporating competition and cooperation awards such as points or badges for participation. The addition of these game-like features can potentially create user motivation (Gordon & de Souza, 2011) This is exactly what is seen with challenges on Endomondo. The users are motivated to participate since they get the chance to both beat other users but also win a prize.

In location based mobile treasure hunt games such as Botfighter and Mogi, the users are following specific paths through the city in order to collect virtual objects. Users of these games have been observed to change their day-to-day movement patterns through the city, just to play the game (Gordon & de Souza, 2011, p.70). While the game on Endomondo may seem rather simple compared with these LBMGs, the challenges do in fact foster similar kinds of behavior change. A user might for example gain some extra mileage by taking a detour on the bicycle on the way to work. In this manner, the gamification elements made possible by the network facilitate the motivation to workout more.

In addition to the these gaming elements, the motivational driving forces are also enhanced by a form of social cohesion within the network of users. Ling (2008) argues that that the mobile phone has the potential to connect individuals in new ways in that mobile communication can be used to develop and maintain social groups into a form of bounded solidarity. I believe such a bounded solidarity is in fact formed within the network since all the users are essentially heading towards a common or shared goal, which is characterized by physical activity of some such.  Furthermore, the users may experience what I will define here as positive peer pressure i.e. an increased incentive to try to match or outperform other users. This notion is supported by various research on how mobile communication influence behavior change. Gay (2009) found:

Mobile technologies can encourage social facilitation—the notion that individuals are more likely to perform simple or well-learned behaviors if they believe that their behavior is being observed; social comparison, which posits that individuals seek to perform at a similar level to those around them; and social cognition, which among other things asserts that individuals tend to model their behavior around those around them, particularly those who appear to be successful.

Gay, 2009, p. 56

Since the workout data of users is publicly visible across the entire network, unless the user has made the data private, users are influenced by one another. This is one of the common traits of social facilitation where an individual will perform better if he is surrounded by others performing similar tasks, and if these others are slightly better at performing the task (Gay, 2009).One could argue that the users may not pay much attention to their immediate close ties within the network, but the social aspects of the broader array of users (weaker ties) are prevalent factors for creating and maintaining an important part of the motivation for tracking workouts.

4.2 Endomondo as a bookkeeper (Instrumental usage)

In addition to the social facilitators embedded in the application, the instrumental features in the system also facilitate user motivation. These instrumental features are mainly those bound to the application framework and the technical capabilities provided by the handset itself. An instrumental feature is for example the ability to track and record the pace or workout distance. As seen in the survey data, the most common used feature of the application is keeping track of training results using the statistical data, which is recorded during the actual workout. This kind of personal data recording has given birth to the term “Quantified self”, which is defined as the act of leading a better life by continuous numerical measurements of bodily functions and activities such as sleep, diet or athletic performance throughout a substantial amount of time (Roberts, 2013). In all its simplicity the recorded data on Endomondo provides the users with a clear visual representation of their activities and their improvements or lack thereof. Some of this statistical data is represented as a type of user achievements. Examples of this include the amount of burgers burned during exercising or trips to the moon, based on the tracked distance of workouts. This specific type of data representation serves as positive form of feedback, which increases motivation to do more.  

Finally, “numbers don’t lie”, which may also act as a great motivation to improve results. Consider a distance runner wanting to beat his previous record on a specific route through the countryside. He is able to do exactly so by loading up his previous results into the smartphone app and start competing against his previous result. Of course, there may be instances where the overall data collection could also work in a counterproductive manner, by discouraging the user to track workouts if he is unable to beat a previous result. However, the survey does not initially suggest that this is a common issue amongst the respondents.

The discussion of the social and instrumental affordances of the application as outlined above reveals the main motivators needed to continuously keep tracking workouts. The identified elements align quite well with earlier findings concerning intrinsic motivation on mobile communication units. Gay (2009) found the following:

These motivators are frequently referenced as factors contributing to successful behavior change—in this case, using a device—and they include challenge (the setting of goals that are adequately difficult, but not impossible to reach), control (the individual’s perceived ability to exert control over their environment or an application), competition (comparing oneself to others with a desire to outperform), cooperation (working with others toward a common goal), and recognition (positive feedback in direct response to an accomplishment).

Gay, 2009, p.50

Hence the motivation on Endomondo is shaped by the combination of social facilitators and the individual activities represented as quantified user data, all of which is made possible by the affordances of the location based system.

5. Conclusion

The ability to shape user-motivation is one of the distinct characteristics of the Endomondo application. This is indeed an application, which facilitates behavior change. The users, which primarily consist of demographically mature audiences, are increasingly improving their fitness levels upon downloading the application. The motivation to train is largely propelled by underlying social aspects. These include gaming, competition and elements of social cohesion. Furthermore, the collection of tracking data serves as a valuable feedback, which users utilize by comparing personal and public training results. The key component of the application is thus the gathering and representation of location-based data, which is stored and shared across the network of users.

Further investigation need to be done within this area, in order to fully understand the social impacts of these applications. Implications in regards to privacy, negative peer pressure or destructive behaviour such as over training may act as the foundation for future studies.

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In this academic article I investigate parts of the immense power potential, which characterise social media platforms and online media strategies in todays society. The presented analysis is based on media strategies and initiatives carried out by the Greenpeace organization.

ITU Research collaborators: Kasper Wielandt & Janus Askø

Introduction

Greenpeace is a global independent organization trying to protect and conserve the environment. The organization promotes peace by acting to change attitudes and behaviour. Since its foundation in 1971, the organization has made it a goal to expose environmental criminals, challenge governments and unethical corporations. (Greenpeace International; 2012)

But how does Greenpeace relate to online communities one might ask? After all this organization is mainly famous for its commando- style protests, such as activists chaining themselves to nuclear waste cargo or dumping huge cement blocks in the oceans thereby destroying the gear of trawling fishermen. These are quite direct actions and physical campaigns, which time and again has sparked legal actions upon the activists. Can such an organization, which supposedly rely on physical manifestations actually benefit from social media?

Making the case:
The downfall of the Kit-Kat

In order to exemplify the immense power potential of social media campaigning and Greenpeace’s ability to leverage this power, let us take a short look at the Greenpeace vs. Nestlé campaign.
In 2010, Greenpeace launched a campaign with the aim of getting the Swiss food company Nestlé to stop buying unsustainable palm oil thereby preventing detriment of rainforest and the threatening of orangutans. At the heart of this campaign was a fake Kit-Kat video commercial focusing on the palm oil and deforestation. The video quickly went viral and was chased around by Nestlé in a internet- censorship attempt. Anti-Nestlé discussions from Greenpeace social media pages quickly moved onto the Facebook page of Nestlé, which was quickly overrun with angry protesters demanding them to stop their unethical practices in the rainforest. Nestlé handled the situation badly with angry counter comments and by deleting the negative comments. Ten weeks after the campaign had begun, Nestlé finally crumbled and announced they would stop using the unsustainable palm oil (Tiphereth, G; 2010). This was a huge victory for Greenpeace, and most certainly a huge failure for Nestlé. Even today – two years later – one will still find angry commenters plaguing the Facebook page of Nestlé.

Delimitation

The Nestlé campaign is just one out of many examples where the organization has successfully taken advantage of new media. In fact a multitude of other campaigns exists and a variety of different media platforms plays a role in these campaigns. It will however not be feasible to consider all of the organization’s campaigns and media usages. In order to delaminate the project I have therefore chosen to focus the attention on the use of Facebook in the ongoing campaign; Save The Arctic, which goal is to prevent oil drilling and industrial fishing in the artic region (www.savethearctic.com). I have chosen this campaign because it is present, which makes it easier to collect data. Furthermore, the organization itself regards Facebook as being the most influential social media platform in their online campaigning (Hedelain, M; 2012).

Research question

What characterizes the campaign “Save the Arctic” and which affordances do Facebook offer when trying to mobilize support for the campaign?

Methods

The approach of this paper is based on complimenting methods in the form of theoretical approaches, as well as analysis of quantitative and qualitative research data. The mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods in this paper can be referred to as primitive triangulation (Jick, T; 1979). Although the methods are based on isolated boundaries of the actual investigation, together they will serve as good foundations for the analysis.

Expert interview

In order to gain an elaborate insight of the campaigning goals on digital media, the group conducted an expert interview with a digital marketing representative from Greenpeace. The purpose was to establish the objectives of the campaign as well as the organization’s own awareness of the specific affordances of online media. With this knowledge it is possible to evaluate if the intentions of the campaign match the actual outcomes.

Status updates and viral video

At the core of the online campaign lies the Facebook status updates posted on the wall of the organization. These updates are shared to all the Facebook users who are following Greenpeace and hold a great potential for user engagement. An analysis of the communication strategy will be based on status updates posted in the period between August 31st and November 2nd 2012.

Survey

Does the campaign have any affect the onlookers and do they react upon exposure? Does the effect match up to the purposed objectives of the organization? In order to answer these questions we need data about the campaigning in a larger scale. Here the group choose to use quantitative data collection in the form of a convenience sample. This was done by means of a questionnaire shared across Facebook. This makes good sense since the users here represents the exact same target audience as the one the Greenpeace online campaign (in that they are also users of Facebook).

Analysis & Discussion

With the above outline of the methods in place we are ready to continue with the analysis of the collected data. The entire collection of data will not be presented here, but only the parts, which are most relevant in connection to the research area.

Interview – objectives of the campaign

I will start this section by taking a look at the qualitative research data regarding the campaign objectives of the organization. The interview with Greenpeace digital marketing manager Michael Hedelain (MH) was based on an interview guide, which we divided into distinct themes regarding the different aspects of the organization’s use of online media. The most important points from the interview are summarized below.

MH revealed that the organization is trying to distinguish themselves from the public image of being a closed group of elitist activists. Rather, they want engagement with the masses and to run campaigns together with the masses. Social media is their instrument to reach the largest possible amount of people. Social media cannot stand alone though since the organization will always rely highly on their physical manifestations. However, when people “like”, “share” or sign up for the online campaigns it is regarded as a stamp of approval. This way the physical activist feel they have full support of everybody who signed up online.

Greenpeace’s communication on Facebook is mostly of an informal character and need to be interesting but also “sexy” in order to make it engaging. According to MH, a key aspect of their online campaigns is the collection of digital signatures. This means providing your name and your contact details. Once signed up, the organization will be able to contact petitioners regarding new initiatives and fundraising. Greenpeace’s own studies show that people are more likely to support the organization if they are updated on campaigns and initiatives. Finally, the intention of the Save the Arctic online campaign was the collection of 1 million signatures, which the organization has succeeded by far. Currently, 2.2 million people have signed the petition. Therefore Greenpeace considers the campaign as being highly successful (Hedelain, M; 2012).

The interview reveals a couple of key points. Firstly, the organization is quite focused of specifically tailoring the communicative tone and style for engagement, based on the specifics of the medium. This fact becomes evident in the analysis of the status updates. Secondly, the organization is quite aware of the specific goals and possibilities of their online strategies. There is the “official” goal of getting people to sign up to save the Arctic, but also, there is the goal of using the gathered petition information as a mean of fundraising possibilities. Here we can turn to Goffman’s dramaturgical model where he describes impression management using the front- and backstage definitions (Goffman; 1959). Even though Goffman is focused on personal face-to-face communication and presentation, it provides valuable insights about presentation and management impression, which are equally relevant in the case of Greenpeace. The backstage in this case can be regarded as their fundraising efforts, which is essential in keeping the organization itself afloat. At the front stage, we have the presentation of the campaign and the benefit of signing up i.e. saving the Arctic. In this manner the organization is deliberately putting up a front, which does not match the backstage motives since its not mentioned anywhere that they want you to donate your money. The petitioner is simply told that by signing with the click of a button he will help save the Artic. This is to some extend similar to what Morozov refers to as “slacktivism”. Morozov (2009) defines “slacktivism” as an online effort, such as signing online petitions, which makes the person who signs up feel very useful and important but in reality the effort has no real social impact.

When the marginal cost of joining yet another Facebook group are low, we click “yes” without even blinking, but the truth is that it may distract us from helping the same cause in more productive ways. Paradoxically, it often means that the very act of joining a Facebook group is often the end – rather than the beginning – of our engagement with a cause, which undermines much of digital activism.

Morozov, 2009

It seems this is exactly what is going on in the Greenpeace camping. However, in contradiction to Morozovs view of “slactivism”, the organization actually benefits from this behaviour in regards to their actual goal of simply retrieving the contact details for further engagements or donations. Here we see how the organisation has recognized the fact that online initiatives cannot stand alone.

The status updates

At the core of the Facebook campaign lie the actual status updates, posted by the organization. Throughout a two-month period, 15 status updates about Save the Arctic have been posted. In total these have been “liked” by 68.672 people and shared 19.983 times. What characterizes these updates? First of all, with the exception of a single update with an embedded video, they all contain both text and imagery. In fact Greenpeace have always relied heavily on photography in order to document environmental destruction, and as such, the use of images is an essential part of their communication strategy (Doyle; 2007).

With the ability of sharing updates with imagery on Facebook, in reference with the rooted tradition of using photography in their communication, the organization highly benefits from this specific affordance of Facebook. Different types of short writings ranging from reflections, questions or situational updates always accompany the posted images. The goal of collecting the digital signatures is quite evident since basically all the updates prompt the reader to sign up for the campaign. Therefore, we can regard the status updates not only as informational but also as means of persuasion. In order to analyse the persuasion attempts of the status updates we can turn to the three means of persuasion by Aristotle. Persuasion relies on the character of the speaker (credibility/ethos), the emotional state of the listener (pathos) and the argumentation (logos) (Aristotle; 322 BC). The principles of Aristotle specifically addressed how to speak in public, but also ring true when it comes to communication on Facebook. In this case Greenpeace is regarded as the speaker and the followers as the audience. It will not be possible to analyse all the updates. However, since the character of the updates share a quite similar pattern, I will delimit the analysis to the update illustrated in Figure 1.

Like the majority of the status updates, this update is mainly focused on both the logos and the pathos appeals. The text reads:

Have you ever seen a polar bear up close?

Greenpeace supporter, Stuart Yates, has and he is sharing his photos to give the rest of the world a glimpse of what makes the Arctic such a valuable place, worthy of protection.

See more of his beautiful photos here: http://act.gp/QHqFOu And join the growing movement to help save the Arctic: www.savethearctic.org

Greenpeace, 2013

If we start with the image, we see the mother polar bear with its two cubs. This holds strong connotations to the traditional family life – like the mother nurturing her babies. This prompts deeply emotional reflections upon the viewer’s own life and aims at creating a sense of empathy. Furthermore, the scene shows limited amounts of scattered ice in the sea, as a reminder of the declining icecaps. These are examples of pathos in the image. The text is relying mainly upon the logos appeal. The imposing question makes the reader reflect logically upon the situation in the Arctic. If indeed the ice were to melt, the polar bears would become extinct and the reader would for certain never ever see the beautiful polar bears. In this way the status update implicitly express the significance of the campaign and of signing the petition. All of this is achieved with just a short piece of writing and a single image. The presentation of the campaign using compelling imagery and limited amounts of text makes the potential for reaching the masses much larger, since people will be more willing to “like” or share such status updates. This is one of the key affordances of Facebook compared with e.g. Twitter, which does not display images in the actual Tweets or Pinterest, which does not directly display text alongside posted images.

The survey

As the final step of the data analysis, I will process some of the quantitative data from the Facebook survey 1 . A total of 88 respondents completed the questionnaire – a relatively low number in the larger perspective of the 1 billion Facebook users. Nevertheless, the data is valuable since it gives us a reasonable indication of certain tendencies within the group and therefore it paints the big picture. The most interesting data comes from the question regarding people’s activity of sharing, “liking” or following an embedded link on a previous status-update about Save the Arctic. The data reveals that not only did the majority of respondents (80%) read the post; they also liked the post and followed the link to the campaign site. A bit less, approximately 50% of the respondents actually shared the link across their network. It should be noted that 28% of the people who actually saw the post were already followers of the Greenpeace Facebook page, but 22% of the non-followers also saw the update.

From this data we can see that the identified pathos appeal in the status updates seems to be working quite well. Not only do people read the status updates, but also find them interesting as indicated by their subsequent active engagement. This is important. On the short run, the goal of engaging the viewer to go deeper and climb the ladder of engagement is fulfilled but more importantly, getting the message out and about is achieved when the viewer shares the update in his network. We can use Granovetter’s “Strength of Weak Ties” to elaborate further upon this. Granovetter (1978) identifies personal relations into strong ties and weak ties i.e. people in close and distant networks respectively. The weak ties facilitate the flow of information between clusters of close networks or strong ties. This way information can be distributed across vast networks like the spread of bacteria. According to Bakshy (2012), the probability of a person sharing a link increases tenfold when the link stems from a weak tie. In fact weak ties are responsible for the majority of all information spreading on the network. The weak ties maintain the network since everyone is connected and news can spread very quickly. In the case of Facebook this is interesting since the majority of connections in the network consists of weak ties (Easley, D & Kleinberg, J; 60-63).

Persuading the masses

Based on the analysis of the interview and the status updates I believe its clear that the online strategy can all be boiled down to mass persuasion. Simply put, the organization is trying to change attitudes of people and make them engage actively in way or another. This strategy is made possible due to an array of specific affordances, which are all present on Facebook. Some of these have already been identified above. Here I will try to create a final overview using what Fogg refers to as “Mass Interpersonal Persuasion (MIT)” – changing attitudes and behaviour on a mass scale.
According to Fogg (2008), Facebook was the first platform to combine six specific components in one place, which are all needed in order to achieve MIT. These components are; persuasive experience, automated structure, social distribution, rapid cycle, huge social graph, and measured impact. I believe these components are more or less self-explanatory, so let us see how each are realized in the campaign.

Persuasive experience: this is the campaign itself, engaging the viewer to follow the embedded links and sign up. As mentioned this is realised by means of the logos and pathos appeal of the status updates.

Automated structure: Fist off all, the campaign is constantly accessible and does not rely on informants chasing people down the street. Secondly, the automated structure makes the social distribution easy – people are able to share instantly with the click of a button.

Social distribution and huge social graph: Connections gets updated when others “like” or share post about the campaign. Due to the nature of the timeline, the exact content of the posts is visible to all who shares it. The potential of reaching the masses is realized due to the immense amount of Facebook users and due to the “weak ties” in the network.

Rapid cycle: The campaign is spreading fast across the network, which builds momentum. The time from people getting involved into evolving their connections is short.

Rapid cycle time builds momentum and enthusiasm. Not only does the level of involvement grow quickly with a rapid cycle, but the rate of involvement also goes up. Momentum sweeps many people into a movement who may otherwise not get involved.

Fogg, 2008, p.7

This was especially witnessed by quickly exceeding the initial goal of collecting 1 million petition-signatures on the campaign site. Furthermore this facilitates the persuasion experience since followers receives the news and updates, often while the action is unfolding.

Measured impact: Statistical data is quite visible on Facebook. Here its possible to see how many likes, shares or comments have been made on the posts. In this way people get feedback on their efforts, which also builds momentum.

This feedback likely increases the motivation for people sharing the experience. On the receiving side, visibility creates more pressure for the person who is invited. They may want to avoid an awkward situation like this: ‘Hey, I invited you to support the Burmese monks. You never joined the group. Don’t you care about what’s going on?’

Fogg; 2008, p. 8

Since the majority of the status updates regarding the campaign has an emotional appeal the organization may highly benefit from an element of pressure. Furthermore an element of social proof or herd behaviour may exist. Finally, the statistical data allows the organisation to evaluate the effectiveness of their campaign.

Conclusion

Using the Facebook platform as a strategic campaigning tool, the Greenpeace organisation is attempting to save the Arctic region. Their efforts in doing so are characterized by exploiting the social distribution affordance along with the mass persuasion potential, which is made possible by Facebook. Relying mainly on emotional pathos elements in the form of imagery and short text, the organization manages to persuade the masses into signing up for the campaign. The engagement does however not simply end with the user signing up. Within the signatures lie an important potential of engaging users further – which is essentially the goal of the campaign. This way the initiatives does not simply become acts of meaningless slacktivism. This is especially important since the organization relies entirely on the funding from the private individuals. Wether or not the organization actually manages to retrieve their funding after the signatures still remains to be answered. The online efforts will not replace the physical manifestations but merely facilitates the overall cause by serving as a mass-supporting platform. Therefore Facebook itself will not save the Artic but it certainly facilitates this goal.

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