Psychology and Social Media

Psychology & Social Media

Inés Peschiera (@eeness)

Producer, Core Industries (@coreindustries)

#SBNY10

Thursday, March 18, 2010

MeBio I am a producer at Core Industries with a crippling weakness for music, science and social innovation.

Core IndustriesBio core industries creates interactive experiences for organizations that do no harm. let's grow.

Location Brooklyn, NY


Recent work


We’re going to cover:

• Social Media 101

• Behavioral Drivers

• Social Phenomena

• The Big Picture


Social Media 101


Monthly visitors over the years

Quantcast dataThursday, March 18, 2010

Daily visitors over the years


Top 10 Social Networks

Facebook 350 Million Us. Growing Int’l

Qzone (QQ) 200 Million China

MySpace 130 Million Trends lower income

Windows Live 120 Million Blogging (MSN Spaces)

Habbo 117 Million International

Orkut 100 Million Google, Brazil & India

Friendster 90 Million Asia

hi5 80 Million India, Thailand, Cent Am.

Twitter 75 Million US & International

Tagged 70 Million

Wikipedia, The EconomistThursday, March 18, 2010

Facebook Demographics


MySpace demographics


Twitter


YouTube


Learn from some great thinkers

• danah boyd, Microsoft Social Media Researcherhttp://www.danah.org/

• Dan Zarrella, Social Media Scientisthttp://danzarrella.com/


http://www.danah.org

http://www.danah.org

In order to know know how society works, you need to be a part of it.

- danah boyd


Behavioral Drivers


The goal of marketing initiatives are ultimately to change the behavior of an audience.


Use less plastic, Read more books, Eat raw, Eat organic, Eat more eggplants, Drink more wine, Recycle, Upcycle, Use less, Do yoga, Go to Grad school, Learn English, Learn Spanish, Learn Chinese, Go b a c k t o s c h o o l , L i ve i n Brooklyn, Watch Alice in Wonderland

BuyVolunteer Donate


Understanding the most effective drivers of behavior will make you a better marketer


Operant Conditioningthe use of consequences to modify the occurrence and type of behavior

BF Skinner, psychologistThursday, March 18, 2010

Operant Conditioning:Four Processes

Nature of Stimulus

Impact on Behavior

+ Reinforcement

- Reinforcement

+ Punishment

- Punishment

+

-

+

-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning




BEHAVIOR CONSEQUENCE RESPONSE

Reinforcement

+

-

Ice cream courtesy of Pink Sherbert Photography

Guitar orchestra courtesy of trp0


http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3398923323/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3398923323/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trp0/443123914/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trp0/443123914/

BEHAVIOR CONSEQUENCE RESPONSE

Punishment

+

-

Time out chair courtesy of pwbaker

Batman courtesy of Compulsive Collector

Mischief courtesy of morberg


http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwbaker/2621509968/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwbaker/2621509968/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/capedcrusader/4355740457/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/capedcrusader/4355740457/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/morberg/2686154462/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/morberg/2686154462/

QWhich has been shown to be the most effective method of driving behavior?


APositive Reinforcement

• For faster results, immediate positive reinforcement works best

• For long term success, variable- ratio positive reinforcement works best


Variable Ratio Positive Reinforcement

Photo Courtesy of davidzThursday, March 18, 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidz/235767673/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidz/235767673/

How does variable-ratio reinforcement impact traffic?


Operant Conditioning:Four Processes

Nature of Stimulus

Impact on Behavior

+ Reinforcement

- Reinforcement

+ Punishment

- Punishment

+

-

+

-

+ Reinforcement

- Reinforcement

+

-





1Satiationeffectiveness will be increased if the individual's "appetite" for that source is greater


Photo courtesy of r9M Photo courtesy of Kerosene Photography


http://www.flickr.com/photos/gifake/4012348606/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gifake/4012348606/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinkerosene/3881926182/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinkerosene/3881926182/

2Immediacyhow immediately a consequence is felt determines the effectiveness


3Contingencyif a consequence does not reliably, or consistently follow the target response, its effectiveness upon the response is reduced


4Sizeis the effort worth the size or amount of the consequence?


Takeaways

• 1. Audience. Know what it expects/wants.

• 2. Context. Provide them with useful information at the right time, in the right tone

• 3. Trust. Make sure you make the impact known

• 4. Make it worf it. Cost-benefit on your side


QWhat campaigns/companies have leveraged these four insights successfully?


Haiti, 1/12/10Photo Courtesy of Zoriah


http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoriah/4305473659/in/set-72157623162191569/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoriah/4305473659/in/set-72157623162191569/

Haiti

• Text campaign raised $8 million in one day

• Up to 10,000 texts per second


But why?

1. Satiation: audience was aching to do something

2. Immediacy: the NEXT day!

3. Contingency: donation delivered immediately

4. Size: texting takes a few seconds. everyone has a phone.


Social Phenomena


Herd Mentalitya fear-based reaction to peer pressure which makes individuals act in order to avoid feeling “left behind” from the group

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_mentality




Information cascade

occurs when people observe the actions of others and then make the same choice that the others have made

Sushil Bikhchandani, David Hirshleifer, Ivo Welch, economists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_cascade




]

259 Interviews later, scientists find that farmers trusted their friends’ and neighbors’ opinions over the word of a salesman

Great Depression. Scientist introduce new drought-resistant seed for corn. But,

NO ONE BUYS IT

Photo Courtesy of The Library of Congress


http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179041036/in/set-72157603671370361/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179041036/in/set-72157603671370361/

Information cascades lead to consensus within a group without most of them understanding the issue


Climate Change:Few people really understand the science

Photo Courtesy of JoshuaDavisPhotography.com


http://www.flickr.com/photos/articnomad/751206496/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/articnomad/751206496/

Information cascades also happen online and are driven by simple infographics that denote user interest


>

Which ones are better?


Attention:

To all you entrepreneurs who do your own thing. YOU are the ones who can overturn bad cascades.

SOCIETY NEEDS YOU.


Conformityprocess by which an individual's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by other people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformity




Which matches first line?

Solomon Asche, psychologist

76%Conform


Sleeper Effecthighly persuasive message, paired with a discounting cue, causes an individual to be more persuaded by the message over time


How could this site be better?Variable reinforcement?SatiationImmediacyContingencySizeConformityHerd Mentality


Takeaways

• As social animals, we behave in reliable, consistent ways.

• Use this to your advantage in marketing

• Work to build a kick ass herd mentality

• Build positive information cascades

• Introduce good reasons to conform (maybe use some sleeper effect via social media to achieve that)


The Big Picture


Remember all these?

• Satiation

• Immediacy

• Contingency

• Size

• Information Cascades

• Conformity

• Herd Mentality

• Sleeper Effect

Social ContextBehavioral Drivers


Most jobs come from connections from friends of friends


http://www.businessweek.com






human behaviortelescope : natural science :: internet :


The extent to which marketing initiatives (applications, sites, etc.) focus on the end user is the extent to which it will succeed


“Marketing will transition from being based on data, to being conceptually inseparable from it.”

-- Josh Jones-Dillworth


Rising Issues

• Homophily: people connect to people like themselves. Tech reinforces social divides.

• Stimulation: people consume content that stimulates their mind and senses. We are becoming obese with junk stimuli.

-- danah boyd

danah boyd, researcher at MicrosoftThursday, March 18, 2010

Different networks are critical to creativity


What does balance look like?


ChatRoulette


Thanks!

Inés Peschiera

[email protected]

@eeness


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Psychology and Social Media

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Transcript of Psychology and Social Media