Behavior change Facebook Applications are currently a disaster. I spent the past 4 months building Facebook apps, and in the process I did a survey of all behavior change Facebook apps, looking for what works and what doesn’t.

Turns out there isn’t a single successful behavior change Facebook app. Read on to find out why and what I think can be done about it:

An Ideal Platform

Facebook should be an ideal platform for building applications that are very powerful for helping people change their behavior for the better. The reasons are outlined by Dr. BJ Fogg, founder and director of the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, in his paper on Mass Interpersonal Persuasion.

In particular I would point out that Facebook applications can:

1. Easily leverage social motivators, one of the more powerful motivators for humans. More than half of the US population is on Facebook. So an app can easily access a persons social support network.

2. Use Facebook as a Trigger. Half of Facebook users are on Facebook every day. That makes Facebook a powerful habit that you can attach new habits to.

Survey of Behavior Change Facebook Applications

Below are two ways to review my list of 130 behavior change facebook apps. I prepared this list in February of 2010 by searching all apps for words like “goal”, “exercise”, “weight loss”, and so on. So it’s certainly not complete, but I feel it’s fairly comprehensive.

Click on this graphic to see a complete chart showing the average monthly usage of the 130 behavior change apps:

For a complete list with descriptions and links to each app, visit the Google doc here.

Behavior Change Apps Doing Poorly

Notice only 2 of these apps have more than 10 thousand monthly average users. By comparison the top Facebook app, Farmville, has over 80 MILLION monthly average users. Even the thousandth most popular Facebook app has over 75 thousand monthly average users.

Clearly behavior change apps are not doing very well on Facebook. It could be that Facebook is just not the right platform for behavior change or personal development. Maybe it’s just an entertainment and socializing platform. I don’t think that’s the case. I think there are 5 reasons we haven’t seen success yet:

5 Reason Facebook Behavior Change Apps Aren’t Working

From what I’ve seen, all the apps I reviewed make all 5 of these mistakes. Those that are doing better tend to be doing a bit better with points 4 and 5.

1. Overemphasizing Motivation

According to the Fogg Behavior Model, three elements must converge at the same moment for a behavior change to occur: Motivation, Ability and Trigger. Dr. Fogg has pointed out that a common mistake is to overemphasize motivation, with little regard to the user’s ability to perform the ability, or arranging triggers for the desired behavior. I found this to be commonly true in the behavior change Facebook apps  as well.

2. Ignoring Ability

If you’ve provided someone with incredible motivation to do something, but they can’t figure out HOW to do it, you’re essentially throwing them against a brick wall of disappointment and frustration. Behavior Change apps typically take on very difficult behaviors without adequately helping the user become ABLE to perform the desired outcome easily. Solutions include providing instruction through the app, guiding users to keep researching strategies outside the app, or developing apps targeting very focused behavior changes where ability can be more readily fostered.

3. Ignoring Triggers

If you are strongly motivated to do something, and have the ability to do it, you can still find weeks and months slip by without actually doing it. According to the Fogg Behavior Model, you also need effective triggers that remind you to do the behavior when you CAN actually do it. Facebook apps actually do frequently use triggers, just not effective ones for challenging behavior changes. They may send email reminders or take advantage of communication channels within Facebook itself (app news, counters, messages, stream posts). However these triggers rarely happen at a time when the user can actually DO the new behavior. To really be successful, apps need to help users set up triggers at the right time. For example, users might configure apps to send Facebook text messages during a user’s lunch break reminding them to eat something fresh. Or an app might offer a motivational printout to post on the mirror reminding the user to exercise first thing in the morning.

4. Ignoring Facebook  Design Patterns

Facebook (and Social networks  in general) are unique design environments and they’re changing all the time. It’s very hard to predict what interactive design strategies will work without trying them out. Too many apps strike out on their own with brand new interaction patterns, or patterns that work in other environments, like traditional websites or software. They are then surprised and disappointed that their app does not engage users. It’s very important to begin by modeling (if not outright imitating) existing Facebook interaction models, and then systematically testing new directions.

5. Ignoring Facebook Viral Best Practices

Apps that have seen rapid viral growth are aggressively using viral design patterns, creating a tight viral loop that all users enter as soon as they engage the app. Casually leveraging viral channels will achieve very limited growth no matter how powerful the behavior change features are. It’s necessary to study the best strategies, track metrics and continuously hone the efficiency of the viral loop for an app to grow large through virality.

Opportunities

Each of these current short-comings represent an opportunity for developers to break away from the pack. It’s not clear yet how many of these errors need to be corrected, and how well, to create a behavior change Facebook App that is really successful. I look forward to seeing emerging apps that start getting these things right!

This blog post represents a change in focus for the GoalTribe blog. I’m going to begin focusing more on the science and technology of behavior change, helping developers of behavior change, goal achievement, and personal development software figure out how to make their software as effective as possible. I’ll do reviews of existing sites, software, widgets and apps, do interviews, and explore research on behavior change, personal development and goal achievement best practices.

I expect that individuals will continue to find the blog a great source of the best research-based strategies and technologies for improving their lives, their communities and the world.

Any questions, comments, additions? Please leave a comment.

We’re very excited to announce the launching of our first GoalTribe Facebook App: The 30 Day Fitness Challenge.

We think this is going to be a really powerful and fun way to stay motivated to become a regular exerciser.

Here’s more information:

Getting the Benefits of Exercise has Never been Easier!

Improve Your
Energy — Appearance — Happiness — Immunity — Intelligence — Sleep — Lifespan

The benefits of regular cardio exercise are well proven. Now it’s time for you to start your lifelong exercise habit starting with just 30 days! You can do it! The GoalTribe 30 Day Fitness Challenge uses a variety of powerful, proven techniques to keep you motivated as you build a regular exercise routine.

Social encouragement is the most powerful motivator according to studies. The GoalTribe Fitness Challenge application makes it really easy for your Facebook friends to encourage, support and help you. And to celebrate every success along the way to a strong, healthy body!

Ready to take make one of the most powerful improvements to your life possible?

Let’s begin!

Better! Faster! Smarter! That’s how you want to set goals, right? Oh – and you want it to be easy too. There’s one popular strategy for setting goals that captures all the main keys to goal setting in one easy-to-remember mnemonic: S.M.A.R.T. Much of the advice here is from “Goal Setting Theory” which is recognized by psychologist as one of the most well-proven motivational theories. Here are the 5 parts of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals:

1. Specific: Make sure your goal statement defines a clear, unambiguous result. For example: “Run 3 times a week for a year”, not “Start running”.
2. Measurable: Have a clear way to tell when the goal has been accomplished. For example: “Lose 5 pounds”, not “Lose weight”.
3. Attainable: You have to believe you can achieve the goal. You can both adjust the goal to your self-image, and adjust your self-image to realize your incredible potential.
4. Rewarding: You have to be excited about achieving the goal. There has to be some reason, some emotion, to drive you through the work to succeed. Why do you want to achieve this?
5. Timebound: It doesn’t really become a goal until you set a target date to achieve it. That’s when you ignite the rocket and begin taking action every day to succeed.

There are several variations on what the S.M.A.R.T. mnemonic stands for. These are the ones I find most effective from my experience. You can learn about all of them from the S.M.A.R.T. Goals Wikipedia article.

Reference: Locke, Edwin A. (2001) Motivation by Goal Setting, Handbook of Organization Behavior, 2:43-54

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We frequently encounter things that seem to make us stressful, fearful, or otherwise upset. But it’s not really the thing that is making us upset, it’s how we interpret and react to it. My friend Isabelle Stahl recently started a site to promote a simple, powerful method for transforming stress in 4 simple steps. Great stuff! I find it incredibly helpful. Take a look at KindMind.ca

Having trouble finding time to exercise? Time to get creative! Here are 30 creative times to squeeze in a workout:

30 Creative Times to Exercise

1. First thing in the morning (Alarm clock workout)
2. A half hour before you normally get up
3. At sunrise
4. Walking your kids to school
5. On the bus / train
6. While commuting (walk, bike, or park farther from the building)
7. During meetings (“Mind if we walk while we talk? It’s beautiful outside.”)
8. At your desk (isometrics or standing while working or one of these: link1 link2 link3)
9. During lunch hour
10. During an eclipse
11. While you’re on the phone (consider cordless, mobile, headset, speaker phone or blue tooth)
12. While waiting for printing, booting, downloading etc.
13. Coffee break or smoke break
14. Immediately after work
15. While watching TV (or instead of, consider walking in place or a treadmill)
16. During commercial breaks (crunches, pushups)
17. While playing with the kids
18. While reading
19. While cooking
20. After dinner
21. During sunset
22. Meeting friends (for a walk instead of lunch)
23. While shopping (keep moving, try window shopping)
24. On a date (go for a hike or a bike)
25. While brushing your teeth (squats anyone?)
26. In the shower (wash vigorously!)
27. In the middle of the night
28. During a meteor shower
29. During a full moon
30. Isometrically flex and contract muscles anytime!

What are some other creative ways to find time to exercise? Please share in the comments!

Have You Saved The World Yet Today?

GoalTribe’s mission is to have a deep impact on the state of the world by connecting millions of people to help each other improve their lives, their communities and the world. Please take a moment to do something good today by sharing this article, or GoalTribe.com, with your friends. The links below make it easy!

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So you’ve lost your job, huh? That’s sucks. Or does it? What if it’s the best thing that ever happened to you? What if it’s a blessing in disguise? I know you might feel terrible about it, but millions of people who’ve lost there jobs are deciding to re-interpret what unemployment means. They’re going from UNemploymed to FUNemployed. And you can too!

5 Steps for Turning UNemployment into FUNemployment

1. Drop the Guilt and Fear: These are new times. Lots of people are losing there jobs. You may lose your job many more times. It doesn’t mean you’re bad. It doesn’t mean you’re not taking care of your family. Feeling bad about losing your job is a waste of time. Surrender to the situation, be grateful for the fresh opportunities before you, and get curious and excited about what you could do with your time off work!

2. Take a Mini Retirement: This is an opportunity: an opportunity to start a new chapter in your life; an opportunity to catch your breath, an opportunity to take a Mini Retirement! Tim Ferris’ book “4 Hour Workweek” explains how counting on a nice retirement at the end of your life is no longer a valid strategy. There’s too much uncertainty with the economy, social security, finances and your health. It’s much smarter to take mini-retirements throughout your life. There is no longer a stigma attached to taking off 3,6 or 12 months between jobs.

3. Carpe Diem: So seize the day! Give yourself permission to have the time of your life! Whether you just have a lot more fun with the flexibility and time you have during your job search, or whether you take a full on mini-retirement - have fun with your unemployment!

4. Swap Time for Money: When you have a good job, you have money, but no time to enjoy it. When you’re without work, you’re rich with time but have limited money. How exciting! You just need to learn how to be clever & creative with your cash.

5. Do Something Stupendous! I hope by now your brain is running wild with ideas for things you could do with your time off. Do something exciting! Do something that people will be amazed by! Do something that makes a great story! Do something that will fill a photo album that will make you laugh, and smile and relive happy memories all the days your life. Make this unemployment a FUNemployment!

What might you do with your FUNemployment? Learn a language? See concerts? Teach your children to surf? Learn the accordion? Backpack South America? Volunteer to help save the rain forest? Write your memoirs? Finish that screenplay? Play your favorite video game to the end? Find a cure for baldness? Please share your ideas in the comments section!

Join our mission to improve lives and improve the world. Please share on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, Email etc. The links below make it easy!

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Whether you want to see all the world wonders, heliski the Himalayas or shark dive in South Africa. If you’re looking for a life of high adventure, take a look at my guest blog How to Live a Life of High Adventure on Marc and Angels Hack Life Blog!

Standing in line bored out of your mind is a huge waste of your precious time on Earth. It’s one of the least efficient features of modern life, one that I think we’ll eventually do away with. But it’s only a waste if you stand their bored. In reality, it’s a precious gift of time during which you can do something profound… something deep and meaningful… something that can even blow your mind. Here are 6 ways to make your time standing in line into something profound:

6 Ways to Blow your Mind when you’re Stuck in Line

1. Become Joyful: Research in the new field of positive psychology has clearly established that your happiness has very little to do with the conditions of your life. Right now, somewhere there is someone in worse health with less money than you, standing in a long line under a blistering sun – and they’re happier than you are! They’re joyful simply because they have better mental habits than you. Standing in line is a perfect opportunity to practice being happy for no reason at all. Spend the time counting your blessings. What’s great about your life? What are you looking forward too? What are some of your best memories? Who do you love? What are you proud of? How do those thoughts make you feel?

2. Expand Your Mind: One of the profound things about being human is our capacity to keep learning. And there are oceans of mind-blowing things to study about this great, big, beautiful universe we live in. I frequently keep a small book in the car that I can slip in my back pocket to pull out if I’m stuck standing somewhere with nothing to do. Read up on the subjects that fascinate you. Read mind-expanding books on science, philosophy or spirituality. Read personal development books. Read the classics. Read executive summaries of books. (More ideas at 5 Ways to Learn on the Go)

3. Meditate: There are many ways to meditate. One way that can be done in line is: Take a deep breath. Relax your body (stand or sit or whatever). Keep your eyes open. Now just breathe in a relaxed, easy way and notice the things happening around you. For every thing you notice, just say “I smell someone’s perfume. I see someone’s red dress. I feel my shoes…” Just notice. Don’t judge. Don’t think. Don’t process. If you notice active thoughts, just gently go back to the exercise. How does that feel? Don’t worry, if you need to become active, you can snap out of it instantly. (Although with renewed sense of peacefulness.)

4. Breath in Serenity: Standing in line is a good time to do breathing exercises. Breathing purifies, energizes and leads to a nice, serene state of mind. Just do this 10 times: breath all the way out, squeezing your belly to make sure your lungs are really empty. Then take a long deep breath in. Puff out our belly, then your chest. When you think you’re full, sniff in through your nose once or twice. Hold for a few moments (as comfortable), then slowly exhale. Only do as many repetitions as is comfortable. You’ll probably need to build up to ten. Then enjoy the serenity that follows. Notice how your body feels.

5. Become One: Now we’re getting into some really mind-blowing concepts. Standing in line is an opportunity to do exercises to build your feelings of oneness with all things. Consider one of the people standing in line with you. This person is a manifestation of the same profound forces that crafted the starry sky; the same forces that make people look into each other’s eyes and fall in love; the same forces that blanket the springtime in flowers, greenery and birdsong. This person’s consciousness is one of the most profound mysteries of the universe. How could you show this person some kindness? Compliment them. Ask them about their life. Listen deeply, with respect. Each person has something to teach you. Each person is an opportunity to connect more deeply with life.

6. Transcend: “To the illumined mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light.” – Emerson. There are many paths to the enlightened state of being, where you experience the profound nature of all reality and extraordinary bliss and lightness at all times. The more mundane the situation, the better it is for practicing this realization and the feelings that accompany it. Stand in line and think about the trillions of atoms all around you spinning and vibrating, doing their part to create this absolutely unique, once-in-an-eternity moment for you to experience. Most of these atoms were forged in the extraordinary conditions of a star, they are stardust. You are stardust. Imagine everything sparkling and shining. Everything is perfect in this moment.

So vow right now to never waste time in line again. Pick one or more of the practices above to transform your “waiting time” into “awakening time”. What steps could you take to be prepared for that?

You could also set a goal on GoalTribe to commit to not wasting another minute in line for the next 30 days to see how it impacts your life.

Do you have some other suggestions for making waiting time productive? Please share in the comments.

For more productivity strategies see: “Stop Wasting Time” on The Simple Dollar blog.

If you enjoyed this article, please support us in our mission to change people’s lives and change the world by sharing this article with the links below.

Thank you for reading!
Robin

Creativity can save the world. Creativity can save your life. Yes it’s that powerful.

To learn to harness your creativity, check out my guest post on The Change Blog: “How to Unleash Your Creative Brilliance”

Enjoy!
Robin

From our experience with the thousands of goals on GoalTribe.com, and goals in general, we find that there are some categories of goals that are always popular. Here is our take on what the top 10 goals of all time are:

The Top 10 Goals

1. Lose weight
2. Begin a regular exercise habit
3. Eat Healthier
4. Find a job (or a better job)
5. Get out of debt
6. Become financially independent
7. Learning a new skill
8. Learn a new language
9. Go Traveling
10. Quit Smoking

Steps for Achieving Top 10 Goals

1. Write down the goal you want to achieve, be specific.
2. Now write a plan for how to achieve that goal. (Refer to Learn How to Do Absolutely Anything.)
3. Now set a date that you want to achieve that goal by.
4. Now schedule when you will do each of the steps on your plan.
5. Get one or more people to be your ‘support group’ or ‘accountability buddies’. These people can hold you accountable to take action,
6. help you come up with ideas, and celebrate your successes.
7. Take action right away!

To make it extremely easy to achieve your goals, we created GoalTribe.com the most advanced goal achievement social network on the web. GoalTribe takes you step-by-step through planning a goal, building motivation, getting a support group, getting reminder emails, and overcoming obstacles until you succeed.

Get started changing your life now!