Social Listening is a way of analysing data points across the digital ecosystem, covering everything from websites to social media to understand what people are saying. Therefore, we used our social listening machine to examine what people had to say about the biotech and genetic engineering industry. Together with organisations performing longevity research, the industry is often called the human longevity industry. Those working in the industry may want to look away now…
Congratulation! Biotech and genetic engineering industry, you have some super fans.
Firstly the good news. Taking a sample of all mentions of human longevity across April 2022, we discovered the industry has a 42% passion rating among people commenting about it. These results indicate almost half of people who discuss longevity will continue to speak about it again. So congrats, there are some super fans.
Sorry, biotech and genetic engineering friends…this is where the fun ends.
The remaining analysis raised several concerns unless you are one of the 880 people searching “live slowly”. If this is you, we assume you are still reading the headline (who are you?). Our data insights illustrated that the number of people talking about the human lifespan was alarmingly low. So insignificant that it appears as an almost non-existent topic. However, as we know from Antlerzz social media accounts, a longevity ecosystem exists. So what is preventing the discussions from catching fire and going mainstream?
Firstly, there is a history of false promises and sensationalist headlines. Our social listening insights suggest chronic confusion and misunderstanding of what the biotech and genetic engineering industry is trying to achieve. Our machines extracted comments like human longevity is “too close… we haven’t even found a way to stop abusing and killing each other yet”. Others believed “designer babies” were the only people who could benefit from increased longevity and “cannot benefit living generations”. They prophesied that these future designer babies “at best…will face resentment. At worse they will face genocide”.
People believe Richard Branson is unemployable – and has been for 20 years.
Gosh, this was not the happy reading we had hoped. Others were unable to divorce the idea of old age and disease. One commentator was wondering if people are living to 200, they will be miserable if (they) cannot take care of themselves. Others concluded, “the brain is still ageing, and we have no way to replace it”. Moreover, people’s perspective of their present life was an issue, with concerns around employment, age discrimination and social injustice. As a result, people could not get excited about a human lifespan movement.
“Past 50 you become unemployable,” remarked one person who clearly hasn’t heard of 71-year-old Sir Richard Branson (Don’t worry Sir Rich – you have a job for life at Antlerzz). There were also concerns about “messing with mother nature” amongst people who presumably will be shocked that some random guy called Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928! Therefore, Biotech friends, maybe people appreciate you more in hindsight?
How the Biotech and genetic engineering industry can move forward
So, what can be done to change perception, especially when people leave such insightful remarks like they are “30 and already past it” and clearly unaware that Cristiano Ronaldo remains amongst the best footballers in the world at 37 and a somewhat successful investor called Warren Buffet is CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the rather tender age of 91. The answer lies in rebranding.
At Antlerzz, we believe the future of the human longevity industry depends on organisations tapping into people’s psychology. Therefore, it is essential to become more visible across the digital ecosystem. We are on a mission to help biotech and longevity companies become more visible and build trust with the help of our data insights. Biotech organisations should start by leveraging influence.
Biotechs should leverage Influence
Building relationships with wearable companies could be a place to start. For example, if your focus is eliminating senescent cells, working with a company like Garmin could help you become more commercial. For instance, providing a rudimentary analysis of a potential delay of senescent cells could help bring much of the research more mainstream. As a result, you can tap into people’s consciousness. If someone is active for X number of hours per month, this could be correlated, at a very high level, with a potential delay of X senescent cells. It wasn’t long ago measuring Vo2 max seemed sci-fi. It was the preserve of elite athletes. However, these devices have made health data much more accessible and understood.
Introducing longevity concepts to wearables may also help the future movement within the whole biotech and longevity industry. Becoming more mainstream with the help of wearables will see detection and prevention become components of standard healthcare. As the biotech and genetic engineering industry tries to push toward this future, people need to be ready. Furthermore, early detection is essential for breast cancer survival, as seen in the graph below.
Biotech and genetic engineering companies should reconsider their marketing budgets
Unexpected outcomes could come from setting aside budgets to work with elite athletes. The athletes could test and promote some of the research the longevity organisations are conducting. Imagine if a biotech company working on increasing telomeres was able to show their work by helping an elite Olympian, NFL star or Premier League footballer. Google would be full of searches. In return, it could lead to companies gaining increased visibility and funding.
The answer to solving the trust issues facing the human longevity industry is complex. However, by the use of data insights, leveraging influence and increasing visibility could provide the biotech and genetic engineering industry with a new, more positive “brand”.
If you want to know more about our insights and the reports we provide, please feel free to reach out to us at info@antlerzz.com or follow us on Instagram @antlerzz_longevity
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