Notes from BJ Fogg Phone Call

September 6, 2013

I had the chance to have a quick phone chat with BJ Fogg. I asked him a bunch of questions about behavioral design, specifically with regards to Tomatus. Here are my notes:

  • How is Instagram a habit and Evernote not? Figure out how to create frequent use, make it really easy, make something they already want to do. 
  • "Food tracking needs innovation."
  • Anything people do for tracking is what makes people eat better. 
  • Don’t make [Tomatus] fancy. Just make it fun. Make the funnest app ever, like how Instagram is fun. Don’t build it for everyone. If they think it’s fun, don’t forget to launch the app.
  • Follow one person - only if it’s fun. BJ thinks that social has been overrated. Social reinforces you - it’s the motivation, but an app doesn’t need to be social to go viral. 
  • Keep him posted on Tomatus. 
Before Tomatus became digitalized, I printed mini food tracking cards to put on the back of my phone. They increased my awareness of the food I ate, and that I rarely drank enough water throughout the day. However, the novelty soon wore off, and I stopped paying attention of these. 

Before Tomatus became digitalized, I printed mini food tracking cards to put on the back of my phone. They increased my awareness of the food I ate, and that I rarely drank enough water throughout the day. However, the novelty soon wore off, and I stopped paying attention of these.