Monday, November 10, 2008

What Are You Talking About?: Optimism as Social Proof





















Sarah Rettger said...

Thanks for expanding on this, Jess! I rewrote my explanation of social proof a couple times before posting, worried that my Friday-afternoon incoherence was going to show. It's good to see at least one person was able to understand me!

(And it's actually Dan Cullen who gets credit for working on the weekend. As editor, he's the one who ultimately clicks the Publish button.)

Stephanie said...

YES! Yes, yes, yes; yes, yes yes yes.

That is the most coherent I can be about this at the moment. Will be linking soon and maybe I'll have more to say by then.

Tamar said...

Hello, I just found your blog on a google search under optimism because I have just written a book about the topic for parents. But then I had to read your article because I love the name of your blog. So, hey, if you have parenting books in your bookstore, can I just tell you that, in keeping with your article, the majority of parents I see would truly rather buy my books (or any parenting books) in a bookstore where they can get them *right*away than to have to wait and order on-line. How's that for social proof?!

Oh, and, if I can just put in a plug for those can check out my titles at


Rich Rennicks said...

Jessica, this is a great piece. For a similiar concept to social proof you ought to read Buyology, by Martin Lindstrom, because he intuited that anti-smoking advertising was actually encouraging people to smoke. His research (with the help of top neuro-scientists) indicated that anti-smoking messages which depicted cigarettes or smoking actually caused a craving in smokers' minds, and thus the images totally undercut the message of the ads. The neuro-science reason for this is we have "mirror neurons" that essentially experience what we see being done (or read about being done -- mirror neurons are firing when we relate to something we read) -- if we see someone yawning, we start to yawn, if we see someone enjoying a Coke we are likely to crave a drink ourselves (assuming Coke is already our soda of choice) and if we see a junkie light up a cigarette, we're going to crave one if we're a smoker, even though nobody sees a junkie as worthy of emulation. For the same reason, Lindstrom found that sex in advertising only sells itself: the attractive couple onscreen activates the part of the mind that controls arousal, and causes the memory to completely overlooks the products they're supposed to be selling -- so sex in advertising actually forces the product out of memory, because they compete for the mind's attention. (I wish he had a succinct article or video clip to link to, but I couldn't find one. Anyway, link to his website:

Carried into the book realm, I think that anti-chain statements merely create the impression that the chains are where it's at, and indies are second-class citizens. We simply shouldn't mention them, should never use AMZN to search for a book, and should never compare our service to theirs. It's all about keeping money in the local economy, supporting your local schools' tax base & keeping a diversity of voices and retailers in your community, and these should be the messages we focus on. I agree the ABA holiday campaign is spot on, and hope we can keep moving in this direction next year.

Jacqui said...

Here via Bookavore. This is fascinating, and makes a lot of sense. The "Don't Mess With Texas" part makes me wonder about the same effect and its role in trying to get people to think about their behavior and the environment.

I also think your point about IndieBound being pro-indie and ignoring the chains is well-taken.


priya said...

yup it does make a lot of sense...

P. J. Grath said...

Glad I didn't miss this post! This is right in line with my intuition about not mentioning big-box store names so as not to reinforce those names. And right--complaining never boosts sales. You've also given a name to what I fear goes on in anti-drug campaigns in schools. Why focus their attention on drugs? Why not on, for instance, music?

Megan said...

Brilliant! One of those things that you may sense vaguely, but when someone writes coherently about it, you're like, That's so TRUE! Well, if anyone wants to follow my herd, I shopped at Three Lives this week & at McNally last night--let's see if that honest proclamation brings more customers in! :)

Frankie Law said...

LOL, very inspirational. I think I have a new respect for social media and gonna tackle it see if anything spectacular going to happen to me :D