The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

October 8, 2012 | 1 min read

Students at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed the “like-a-hug” jacket which allows wearers to be ‘hugged’ when they receive a ‘like’ on Facebook.

When prompted by a mobile signal after a page or status is liked, the jacket will inflate giving what the creators call the “warmth, encouragement, support, or love that we feel when we receive hugs.”

MIT student Melissa Kit Chow, who was involved in the design of the jacket, said: "The project was done as an exercise and exploration in shape display.

"We came up with the concept over a casual conversation about long-distance relationships and the limitations of video chat interfaces like Skype.

"The concept of telepresence arose, and we toyed with the idea of receiving hugs via wireless technology. The result was Like-A-Hug. Connecting it to Facebook conceptually was simply a way to explore how social media might push past the traditional graphic user interface (GUI).”

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