Mappiness looks very interesting in terms of getting people to participate. At a recent conference, Design for Persuasion, persuasive technology guru BJ Fogg talked about the behaviour change equation ie what is required to prompt people to change their behaviour.
This is the equation . . .
Behaviour change = motivation + ability + trigger (all at the same time)
Motivation = is the person motivated to do the 'behaviour' (eg I want to play tennis)
Ability = are they actually able to do the behaviour (eg I have a racket, trainers, kit and balls)
Trigger = the prompt to make the behaviour happen (eg tennis partner comes to collect you on route to court)
Motivation, ability and trigger have to happen at once to spark a behaviour change. If one of these elements is missing, there is no trigger for example, then behaviour change will not occur.
It looks at first glance, and I have not yet used the app, that Mappiness is providing the trigger - my phone will prompt me when I need to make a note of how I am feeling, it is giving me the ability to make a note of how I am feeling by letting me use the phone app to do this and I have the motivation to do this as I am interested in the project.
As an aside, I was triggered to find out more from this link in my Twitter stream.
Will start using Mappiness today so will see how it goes. I think it is important to note the role of mobile in this - without this as a mobile app, the triggers and ability would not be there.
For more on BJ Fogg's behaviour change work check out his behaviour grid.