6 Ways Social Proof Shapes the Web
You’re walking down the street. You come across a group of 12 people, all curiously looking up at an open window on the 6th floor of a high-rise building.
What do you do?
You stop, look up, trying to see what it is that they’re all looking at.
This was a 1969 experiment done as part of a social contagion study. It demonstrated the effect known as social proof.
This single aspect of natural human behaviour is also responsible for;
- Football stampedes and the way crowds behave like an organism distinct from the individual
- The popularity of the iPod
- The dominance of Microsoft a desktop operating system
- The high levels of crime and corruption in South Africa
- High rates of obesity in many developed countries
- How some guys can consistently date women that are “out of their league”
- The development of complex languages and what we now know as “culture”
- Why yawning is contagious
- Why moods and attitudes are contagious
- Religion
This part of human nature, like so many other traits, is an evolutionary hangover.
The ability of human beings to learn rapidly and share knowledge is the single most important thing that set the species on the path to earthly superiority.
So what does that have to do with online behaviour?
Social Proof
“Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behaviour. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behaviour of others as appropriate or better informed.”
Simply put, social proof is the way human actions are dictated by the actions of other humans.
Online, this tendency pops up all over the place…once you know to look.
Testimonials
Testimonials work. They establish credibility, they tell others that you’re a little bit of alright.
An effective testimonial conveys trust by drawing on the magic of social contagion.
SEO and link building
A big part of SEO relates to trust. The nature of search engines is such that relevant organic results depend largely on the opinions conveyed about websites by other websites.
Algorithms use various proxies for trust and opinion conference to score and measure the value of webpages.
This transfer of trust by 3rd (and 4th and 5th and beyond) parties is the reason inbound linkage plays a part in search results.
Social Media websites like De.licio.us, Technorati, Digg, StumbleUpon
Websites like those above are a great way to find premium content online. We know that it’s premium content because everyone else says it is.
Social network adoption
No-one wants to be the only person FaceBook, MySpace or LinkedIn.
There is no NETWORK without the SOCIAL.
The value of any social network is directly dependant on the other members of that network. People join social networks when others they know and trust tell them to.
The number of new members joining a social network will tend to increase exponentially. It’s what gives social networks an uptake curve that looks like this:
Ebay – seller ratings
Ebay is undoubtedly one of the most successful online trading platforms ever.
A huge part of that success was the way it handled the transfer of trust between buyers and sellers. A simple rating system that allowed buyers to rate the behaviour of sellers, and sellers to rate the behaviour of buyers, meant that a prospective buyer or seller could base their decisions partly on the experiences of other users.
This little bit of extra information lubricates the wheels of commerce especially in an environment where users are (rightly) apprehensive and cautious.
It can be argued that ebay revolutionised online trade in a very special way
Amazon – ‘other buyers bought’
This simple innovation – suggesting products favoured by other buyers – had a huge effect. Much like the more recent methods of making “most popular” content more visible to readers. “Here, you’ll like this. Others did”
Of course, there’s a lot more to be said on this subject – look out for the follow-up post.
In the meantime, read this, and this, and this…you’ll like it. Others did.