Social Proof in Social Media

Not long ago, as I scanned through my social media sites one morning, I came across a blog post where someone shared six reasons why they decided to give up alcohol. Curiosity got the best of me so I clicked on the link to find out why the author made that choice.

All of his reasons were valid and probably the best choice for him. What caught my attention more than his reasons were the comments that ensued. At the time I read the post, all 15 comments were from people who had also given up alcohol. There wasn’t one person who took the opposing view.

I decided to post a comment about why I choose to drink alcohol. To every point he shared I could make the opposite case as long as the drinking was in moderation. Despite the fact that according to a 2012 Gallup Poll 64% of Americans drink alcohol on occasion, I felt odd posting my comment because I was definitely in the minority.

It shouldn’t have surprised me that despite the fact that two out of three Americans drink, all the readers said they didn’t drink. As I thought about it two reasons came to mind.

The first reason was social proof (aka consensus or peer pressure). This principle of influence tells us the more people do something the more inclined others are to join in. In other words, we get our cues for socially acceptable behavior by looking at how others are behaving in the same situation.

This was a classic case of social proof in action because the more people posted about their experience, the more others felt free to do the same thing.  It’s not just that other people posted that made the difference, it was that all the posts were similar. You see, when we notice the behavior of people we view as similar to us that magnifies the feeling that we should behave in the same way.

For example, if a teen sees a large group of people doing something do you think they’re more inclined to follow suit if that large group consists of other teenagers or adults? Teenagers, of course.

Another reason the comments gained traction was due to liking. We tend to like those we see as similar to ourselves in some way so readers seeing the author had a similar stance on alcohol made them like him more and, therefore, made it easier for them to post.

Social media is amazing for so many reasons. At my age I can easily recall the days before mobile phones, the Internet and social media. Soon younger people won’t have any recollection of those days and therefore might not marvel at the technology the way some of us do.

However, despite all the good social media can do, sometimes it doesn’t change human behavior much. Prior to social media, and still today, I bet you hang around people who are similar to you. Take politics for example. My guess is the vast majority of your friends hold essentially the same political views as you do. Being similar generally makes for less contentious conversations and better times for the majority of people.

That same trigger applies to those with whom we connect on social media, the blogs we read, the news stations we watch, and so on. There’s nothing wrong with this but the more time goes by the more entrenched we become in our viewpoints. Knowing our point of view isn’t always correct, isn’t it worth it to stretch ourselves some?

Here’s my advice – make it a point to get together on occasion with people who are different than you. If you watch Fox News take a look at CNN sometimes, and if you’re a CNN person, watch Fox News. Believe me, it won’t kill you. Follow some blogs or people you know who hold different opinions than you do, if for no other reason than to try to understand their perspective. You might be surprised at what you learn.

Brian Ahearn, CMCT® 
Chief Influence Officer

influencePEOPLE 
Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.