Curiosity Stop:
The Social Innovation Roundup

CURIOSITY STOP
‘Social Thinking’ is understanding how and why people communicate. We use this insight to
provide value for our clients. This understanding is an ongoing passion project
for We Are Social.
Our global team of 600 keep a keen eye out for intriguing changes in the social landscape. We
take the best of these innovations and compile them in the monthly
Curiosity Stop.
You’ll see some examples which prove our social trendspotting, and others which indicate what
might happen next. But if you look really closely, you might just catch a glimpse into the
future of how and why we use social.

Curiosity Stop >
Welcome to We Are Social’s latest Curiosity Stop, which addresses
trends we identified as key in our future-proof Think Forward report.
Social Interactions bring us closer to brands, while wearables and other
innovations can bring us closer to one another, bridging distances that
might be physical or linguistic. In the months and years to come, more
and more of the things we’re familiar with will be integrated with the
internet, whether it’s cars, shops, or whole experiences.
This poses a real challenge for business, as customers come to expect
more and more from the brands they love. It is, however, a very positive
challenge, which is already resulting in some fantastic innovations.
Matteo Starri, Research & Insight Director, Milan

Social Trend 1:
Chatbots - The Rise Of Instant
Interaction
The likes of Facebook Messenger and Slack
opening up their platforms to chatbots heralds the
beginning of a new era of opportunities for
messaging-as-a-platform.
However, while most developers still obsess over
making chatbots as ‘human’ as possible, the best
developers understand that it’s not AI that makes
chatbots innovative, it’s their ability to fulfil
consumer needs through simple, instant action
and interaction.

Chatbots - The Rise Of Instant
Interaction >
Forksy
What’s it all about?
People are increasingly paying attention to their health,
and food is key part of that. Forksy attempts to change
unhealthy eating habits by suggesting alternatives to poor
food choices. The app works through Facebook
Messenger and Telegram, so is designed to be on-hand,
like a well meaning (and slightly annoying) friend, to give
dietary advice.
The bigger picture
Chatbots create a huge window of opportunity for brands
to make a positive difference in people’s lives and help
them make healthier choices. The chatbot mechanism
also opens up a two-way dialogue for brands to gain a
better understanding of consumer needs, as well as
create a relationship with the brand.

Chatbots - The Rise Of Instant
Interaction >
Swelly Bot
What’s it all about?
People are always looking for inspiration and fast feedback.
Nowadays it’s a common practice to ask for advice through
social channels, and this is where Swelly comes in. If the user
is stuck between two options, they can share their question
and ask other people to vote. Swelly then helps provide the
user with instant community feedback - so wave goodbye to
being indecisive and adios to bad daily decisions.
The bigger picture
Understanding audiences’ behavior is more important than
ever, allowing brands to engage in relevant conversations.
Swelly acts as an example of how tools can help
consumers make choices, while providing insights to
those facilitating them

Chatbots - The Rise Of Instant
Interaction >
Nordstrom
What’s it all about?
Nordstrom partnered with Snaps to develop a personal
assistant to help people to find the perfect gift. The chatbot
asks a set of questions about who they are shopping for
and responds with personalised ideas and direct links to
buy the items.
The bigger picture
Chatbots offer brands the opportunity to boost their ability
to engage with online (mobile) shoppers. They benefit both
parties by helping consumers find inspiration and enabling
brands to push selected products at relevant times.

Social Trend 2:
Facilitating Intimacy
While technology has often been perceived as
something that creates distance between us,
we are finding more and more ways to use it
to reinforce our social bonds and satisfy our
fundamental needs for intimacy and
closeness.

Facilitating Intimacy >
Zero-Shot Translation
What’s it all about?
Google Translate is now using a system called ‘Google Neural
Machine Translation system’ (GNMT). It’s an end-to-end
learning framework that learns from millions of examples of
real translations between different languages. This system, in
addition to improving translation quality, also enables ‘Zero-
Shot Translation’ which is a translation between language
pairs that have never been seen by the system before.
The bigger picture
Language can be one of the greatest barriers between
people. The impact of research in language recognition
and deep learning helps both regular users and
professionals - such as linguists and translators in this
specific case - to bring people together. In the future we
may well see our phones being capable of breaking down
language barriers as effectively as a bilingual human
being.

Facilitating Intimacy >
Baby's first wearable
What’s it all about?
The Czech company Daatrics Ltd. has launched Neebo, a new
piece of wearable tech for babies which sends parents an
accurate data stream about their newborn. A smart
combination of physical sensors and artificial intelligence
provides information on factors including blood oxygen,
temperature and heart rate, and raising the alarm if
abnormal measures are found.
The bigger picture
Wearable devices are more and more ubiquitous in our
everyday life, putting into our hands information that would
have previously been out of reach. Real time data collection
and continuous monitoring can help in predicting potential
risks and, above all, allow users to understand their physical
condition and empowers them to improve their health.

Facilitating Intimacy >
Loom.ai
What’s it all about?
A startup called Loom.ai is introducing a system that claims to
generate stunningly realistic avatars from a single still image.
The technology uses a combination of machine learning and
cutting-edge special effects from the film industry to create
personalized 3D animated experiences.
The bigger picture
Facebook wants to make social interaction in VR feel as lifelike
and intimate as the real world: the magic is in bringing the
avatars to life and making an emotional connection.
This new technology aims to democratize the process of
building believable 3D avatars for everyone; a process that
was previously expensive and exclusive to people with a
Studio infrastructure.

Social trend 7:
The Internet Of Social Things 2.0
Common household appliances, products and
skills are already part of the sharing economy. But
mistrust of strangers and the internet of social
things has kept this trend from expanding into
more niche services that involve areas like our
health, loved ones and luxury services. But as our
trust of online peers increases, we are accepting
the internet of social things into these areas of
our lives.

The Internet Of Social Things 2.0 >
Mojio
What’s it all about?
Founded in 2012, Vancouver’s Mojio is a cloud-based
connected car platform based around a small, Internet-
connected device you plug into your car’s OBD port. The
platform provides secure connected car apps and services
for enterprise customers, wireless carriers, auto
manufacturers and more.
The bigger picture
Mojio unlocks hidden telematics data from nearly any car,
bringing “dumb” cars into the Internet of Things and
enables new automotive experiences that could provide
something we’ve all been searching for: peace of mind for
our cars and the people in them.

Social Trend 8:
Behaviour As Currency
Thanks to sharing economy businesses like Uber,
it's no longer just celebrities and politicians whose
behaviour is under scrutiny. Our behaviour is now
held to account wherever we are. Now people - like
brands - must remain vigilant about how our
behaviours are perceived.

Behaviour As Currency >
Buzzin
What’s it all about?
Buzzin App allows people to earn coins for qualifying actions like
volunteering work or using green transport solutions. These
coins can be used to purchase rewards at participating retailers,
or for travel fares. The innovative approach is about creating a
virtual currency whereby people can earn it by carrying out
community based socially and sustainable activities.
The bigger picture
Brands have the opportunity to impact people’s attitudes
and lifestyles, and to shape better behaviours. By rewarding
people for approaching the world in a more
sustainable way, they create a win-win situation that
contributes to shaping a better society for everyone.

CHATBOTS - THE RISE OF
INSTANT INTERACTION
Forksy
Nordstrom
Swelly Bot
FACILITATING
INTIMACY
Zero-Shot Translation
Baby's first wearable
Loom.ai
BEHAVIOUR AS CURRENCY
Buzzin App
THE INTERNET OF SOCIAL THINGS 2.0
Mojio

WE ARE SOCIAL
We Are Social is a global agency with offices in five continents
(Antarctica is a little too chilly for our liking).
We deliver world-class creative ideas with forward-thinking brands, and have fun doing it. Our
clients include adidas, Google and Netflix.
As an international team of 600+, our passion is people. Our mission is to put social thinking at
the centre of marketing.
Trendspotting might get us unnaturally excited, but what really counts is action. If you'd like to
speak to We Are Social about how to make innovation work for your brand, email us at
talktous@wearesocial.net