Coolhunting: Chasing Down the Next Big Thing | Peter Gloor | Talks at Google

TL;DR

Research scientist Peter Gure discusses swarm creativity and how social network analysis can be used to discover and nurture collaborative innovation networks.

Transcript

thanks everyone for coming uh we're very excited to have Peter gure here today with us Peter is a research scientist at the mit's Sloan School of Management and he's also the co-author of cool hunting chasing down the next big thing so what is cool well in his book Peter is going to talk about what is cool hunting what uh how we can uh kind of harv... Read More

Key Insights

• 👻 Swarm creativity, enabled by the internet, allows individuals with intrinsically motivated interests to collaborate and create innovative works.
• 🔨 Social network analysis is a valuable tool for discovering and analyzing collaborative innovation networks, which have distinct social network structures.
• 🤩 Connectivity, interactivity, and sharing behaviors are key indicators of creative individuals and networks within social networks.
• 🎥 Social network analysis can be applied to various domains, including predicting startup success, analyzing movie success, and assessing software development performance.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does social network analysis help identify collaborative innovation networks?

Social network analysis allows us to analyze connectivity, interactivity, and sharing behaviors within social networks. By identifying key actors and their positions, we can uncover collaborative innovation networks that have high creativity potential.

Q: Can you give an example of how social network analysis has been applied in the business world?

One example is using executive social networks to predict startup success. By examining who executives communicate with (both formally and informally) within their industry, we can determine if their network structure increases their chances of survival and success.

Q: How can social network analysis be used to predict movie success?

Social network analysis can be combined with sentiment analysis to analyze discussions about movies on online forums. By examining the centrality of influential users and the sentiment of their comments, we can predict a movie's success at the box office.

Q: Are there limitations to using social network analysis to identify key actors in a swarm?

Social network analysis should be used alongside other methods and should be contextualized. It cannot capture the full complexity of human interactions and may overlook introverted individuals who may contribute significantly in other ways (e.g., through email communication).

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Peter Gure introduces the concept of swarm creativity, highlighting examples such as a swarm of jazz musicians composing an opera, and explains the principles of swarm creativity, including transparency and democratic decision-making.

• Gure describes the tool, Condor, which uses social network analysis to hunt for collaborative innovation networks (coins) and nurture them. He explains how the tool analyzes connectivity, interactivity, and sharing behaviors within social networks to identify key actors.

• The talk showcases various applications where social network analysis has been used, including predicting movie success based on online discussions, analyzing startup success based on executive social networks, and predicting software development performance based on collaboration networks.

• Gure concludes with the concept of "cool farming," which involves actively contributing and immersing oneself in a swarm to foster innovation.