The Bandwagon Effect and Other Social Media Behaviors

It's not a secret that there are many different communications styles. Sometimes I'm tempted to think that they are as many as the people on the planet. It's such a wonder that we connect at all. What gets us on the same page are usually the rituals within communities. We build communities with each other and within other entities - like social networks, blogs, forums, towns in real life, etc.

That's why as soon as a social network is launched and people join it, you see many attempts at defining how one is to behave in such a context. Up pop the posts on how you behave on Twitter, what you share on FriendFeed, what constitutes blogger relations and what is social media sponsored content, what success is - remind me, is it the number of comments to a post? The influence of the blogger? Whether he's famous already in life 1.0? - how brands (actually in sales they call them logos) need to thread and so on.

Organizations are systems, too where people and materials (more and more, those are ideas today) combine to deliver outcomes. There are informal networks that underpin the social fabric of companies and that allow people to really get the stuff that matters done.

Yes, hierarchies are still there, but their power is on the way out. Soft power is in. Experience matters - as in the experience of you. The best results are cultivated through collaboration, not boxes on an org. chart, as important as those are to the order of things.

How you communicate is an indication of how you relate

Imitation is part of the human fabric - we are social animals, we like to socialize things. As soon as we join a new company, club, social network, community, anything, we look around to figure out who else is there, what they want/are about, and who follows whom.

However, there are different stages we socialize from, depending upon how we relate to others. There is also a whole conversation around authority, influence, and popularity that I will not attempt here. I have not read Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, yet, so I won't try to retrace his arguments on culture and circumstances, either.

How we relate goes to what is important to us and in which stacking order. It depends on our values, our stage in life, our attitude, and our awareness. So if I asked you, as I did last night on Twitter:

What do you dislike most about social media?

What you'd say would depend on your frame of reference - how you see the world, the type of project you're working on, personal curiosity, and belief system. Let's take a look at what other people said:

 

When we dug deeper and continued the conversation, Miles Austin said that for him it's a question of how much time there is in a day and what needs his attention. You can see there that The Somers Team also asked me a question. My answer was: I don't like posers, people who cannot find their own brand, and feel the need to 'try' and copy someone else's.

This is why conversation is so important and effective - we discover frames of reference, opinions that build on ours, common ground from which to explore more. Just as importantly, we discover that by virtue of being in the same space, we develop similarities in how we behave and what we accept as unspoken rules. Remember that we all aired the opinions in public and I would guess that was not the first time any of us had given thought to the question or verbalized the response.

Can this kind of insight help public relations? Could it be good food for thought for marketing? There are discoveries in there that we could learn from to execute both better. For all the talk about individual preferences and choices, we are still very much social in our behavior. Yet, the way we stand out - as people and as brands - is by being different. How do the two reconcile?

What do you think? Bandwagon or unique and different? Both?

[image courtesy of Eirik Solheim]

Comments

[Geoff Livingston]

Beware the echo chamber. Not all groupthink ideas are right, or on par, but because of peer pressure, andas you say bandwagon behavior, theories can become widespread reality when perhaps they shouldn't.

[Lauren Vargas]

There are social norms you must comply with to participate in society. You can still ruffle feathers without going over the edge. You can still stand out. I am sick of hearing that socmedia cannot be defined or have "rules" -- sorry, folks, but that is how biz flows. At the end of the day, all of us have a motivating factor for being in this space. People will not tolerate you not participating or not active listening or not following them back. Want to be unique? Get a voice.

[Hendry Lee]

I missed the conversations, so allow me to chime in first. What I dislike:

1. Spam. I'm amazed that people actually put me in their email list just because they randomly pick me and add me as a friend in a social networking site.
2. Marketers who try to fit traditional marketing strategy into new media.
3. Too many useful sites I have to skip. :)

There are many ways to stand out. Being controversy is just one. But of those people who follow that path, I only follow a few of them because of curiosity.

I prefer people who are able to blend in and still stand out. Those people I enjoy hanging out with, but still when I am around them, discussions usually are stimulating.

[Jonathan Burg]

Digital social media brings all of us closer together. As such, my first response was - what's not to like? We're being human!

I think the question could be rephrased as - what don't you like about humans? The same would be true for social media.

We don't like jerks. We don't like people/brands who are selfish. We don't like people/brands who behave inappropriately.

Great post!

[Kathy @ Virtual Impax]

One thing about communicating via the web is that it's hard to gauge how you're being "received".

For example, if you and I were having a conversation over coffee - and I began talking too loudly - you would begin to send me all kinds of "signals" to let me know my behavior is "unacceptable". However, if I start "talking" inappropriately on let's say Twitter - there is no way for me to signal discreetly that you need to change your "tone".

I think that's why so many people are having trouble "finding" their "voice" when it comes to social media. The "rules" of the "real world" frequently don't apply.

As for PR and marketing firms - sometimes it's difficult to make the adjustment from 1 way to 2 way conversations! ;)

[Doug Firebaugh]

Communication in the social Media arena is in its infancy- and people are developing their own style of communication- right or wrong- talking or listening. Spam in any form is unacceptable. That is what is so great about the Social Media Model- we are seeing it develop right before our eyes and ears. Finding your voice is nothing more than figuring out how your style of communication is going to work or not work. If it does not work, then you need to adapt. Great post Valeria!

[Mary H Ruth]

How to reconcile proper sociability with personal self-expression; how to be personal and professional at the same time; how to address a huge range of communications styles in ways that are heartfelt and authentic, while remaining effective. These are major queries, begging the invention of an entirely new way of both being and expressing. We haven't defined or named it yet, but it's surely a discovery that's right around the corner.

[gianandrea facchini]

I agree with Jonathan point of view. I suggest that what is embarassing or disturbing in the offline is embarassing or disturbing in the online world. Same rules, same behaviour.

[BarbaraKB]

Overall, whether reading above @ replies (or comments here) about auto-DM disgust or spam hatred, marketers needs to understand this about social media: people are smarter than machines. This should lead them to eliminate impersonal automation, impersonal list building and, mostly, impersonal contact with product or company. People want contact with people. A simple need, really. But it's what people want.

[Alan Wolk]

To beat the drum I've been beating for a while: the current use of social media, Twitter in particular, is but a blip and the social norms of Silicon Valley types and early adopters will not be the social norms of the mainstream.

The notion of following complete strangers will not translate beyond this group, making many of the above complaints moot.

[Beth Harte]

Great post Valeria! From a company perspective there is much to learn here. If a company is going to participate in social media, they really need to understand the likes and dislikes of the community. As well, these preferences change depending on whether the company is creating a new social network or joining an existing one. And the community also evolves, companies need to be aware of that and the nuances in those changes.

From a personal perspective...is it really what people don't like about social media or is it what they don't like about the people using social media tools?

Someone once asked (I think it was Marc Meyer): "are you the same on-line as off-line?" To which I answered "yes." Another friend who is on Twitter and knows me in real life said "yep, you are." So, did social media teach me how to communicate with other humans or did I have that skill set previously? I don't buy into the notion that social media makes people learn how to communicate properly. I think, however, it does shine a HUGE spotlight on people who do have bad communication habits.

[Jane Chambers]

We need both a common basis for communication and unique, personal comments. By agreeing on what we share, we build a rapport with and trust in each other. Value is only added, however, when we add substantively to the conversation. This means that we must share from our personal experience, thoughts, feelings, etc., in order to advance the conversation. Just saying, "I agree" or "great post," while it is affirming, does not contribute to our overall knowledge.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Geoff - yes, just like in any social system, we need to exercise some critical thinking.

@Lauren - I need to respectfully push back on the whole adding thing. To me it's about getting to know each other and if I can get to know you through a well written profile that reflects who you are and what you are seeking, as well as participation in the conversation, then I will gladly do that. One thing we need to be careful of is to have an attitude of entitlement, on Twitter and in life.

@Hendry - that is a great list. I chuckled at the people adding you to their newsletter. For several years I was the facilitator for a social network and people just signed me up to their newsletter as soon as they met me. No permission asked. We had upward of 500 members. That quickly became a problem. Then I had to go through the embarrassing conversations about why I hit the "unsubscribe" button. What I'm hearing you say is that one needs to be comfortable in his/her won skin and pleasant to be around.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Jonathan - that was good - direct and to the point. You are right and those characteristics become magnified online.

@Kathy - perhaps practice, a slightly different sensibility and the willingness to know what we're listening for help. That is why it's important to get to know people, take your time and don't commit judgment until you've had the chance to test context a little better. That's why it's always best to give people the benefit of the doubt and be balanced in our approach. I have encountered agencies who are struggling and are not preparing for and investing in what's next.

@Doug - those who are experimenting and seeking will find their voice online. The important kind of intelligence in this environment is emotional intelligence (EQ) and an attitude of service is a better stance than the more traditional "do as I say" thinking. One inspires, teaches, learns alongside everyone else.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Mary - this is the age of communicators, I am convinced. The most important part, I think, is that of relearning how to be through expressing in new ways.

@Gianandrea - it is so good to hear from you! In that respect, you earn several points on human communication. I think if anything, online we need to adjust for volume as Kathy was saying - the non verbal cues are not there.

@BarbaraKB - good hearing from you here, too. I have no idea how many times I called a company to ask them to take me off their darn marketing lists. They get the name wrong, they get the offer wrong, they just shout at me. And yet, so many companies have had the opportunity to provide service and earn a customer of me over the years... This is a larger conversation that deserves its own post.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Alan - you bring about a great point. This is a whole beta thing that smart companies are using to learn about potential marketing utilization. The next implementations will be much more commercial.

@Beth - spot on. Social media brings the problems to light where often in other kinds of communities or organizations they are buried by politics, circles of influence or old school networks. Ah, if only companies paid more attention to their organic communities - employees. They could learn so much about how people get stuff done and who is really influential and has real credibility. As for the personal level, I remember the first time I met CK and Toby Diva. We looked at each other and said - wow, you are really like you are in the blog :)

@Jane - you make a great point of how we reconcile the community with the personal. I struggle with the "great post" comments, how, why was it great? Feedback allows us to learn and to further the dialogue for the whole community. There's a lot of me and my personal experiences in every post.

[Howard]

Some great points brought up here. The only thing I feel hasn't been mentioned that deserves to be considered is how in social media, someone's worth is determined by if they're "adding value." It's something that I don't have an answer to and I'm at flaw in that aspect too, simply because of the scarcity of time and excess of noise. Some hold the same philosophy when it comes to life in general, but I strongly disagree. I feel everyone plays a role in the big picture and that individuals shouldn't be disregarded simply because they don't "add value" on paper. There's also those who could potentially add massive amounts of value to the community, but have an inability to communicate effectively via social media. This comes back to your point and points others have brought up about personal perspectives on life and how we view others and relationships. Some of my close friends add massive amounts of intangible value to my life that would be ignored via social media because their lack of tangible value and that's something I really struggle with. That's where my dichotomy of consistency comes in via virtual -> real life.

Thanks for bringing up this conversation and I look forward to seeing if anyone has been able to mend this gap of "value."

[Valeria Maltoni]

How one is adding value comes from good old corporate America - are you familiar with "what have you done for me lately?" The good news with social media is that it's like the telephone - you make of the call/conversation what you want. That's why it's so important to be yourself.

Yes, the temptation is there to copy others (bandwagon effect), getting out of your center is never a good idea. You stated exactly why :) I know you do that. Wish more people did it - make sure you let those people know how much you appreciate them.

Also, value is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak. What works for someone, may not work for someone else.

[Joe Mescher]

I see it.

Taking something from others and making it your own is a part of the American Way (along with truth and honesty).

I've seen a lot of contests on Twitter so I decided to create one for Valentine's Day (free chocolate).

My rationale is that I get to provide something of value to the Twitter community while simultaneously gaining access to a larger communication network.

Plus I love chocolate.

http://tinyurl.com/7o7rk3

[David Leonhardt]

I think from this, we have confirmation of what I have been saying all along, that there really are no "rules" to how to behave on social media, any more than there are "rules" on how to behave at the water cooler, at a trade show reception or any other social function. There are guidelines about courtesy, respect and appropriateness, but those are organic and have to do with the expectations of others. Even on Twitter, where one draws the line on certain activities depends on who you are and who your follower circle is composed of.

I am http://www.twitter.com/amabaie on Twitter.

[Corey Rozon]

"Can this kind of insight help public relations? Could it be good food for thought for marketing?"

Definitely, for the companies, brands, what have you, that are taking a stab at this social media thing as an outlet to connect with their consumers, it sure can help. By taking just those few 'posts' from above you can almost start a 'How To' thing for companies.

- don't spam your followers with links to you blog, site, etc. or send DM spam
- actually engage your followers in conversation, 90% listening (reading/responding) and 10% talking (posting/broadcasting)

I'd like to see the opposite side of the coin. How many responses do you think you would get if you ventured in the positive - 'What do you like most about social media?'

I’ll take amabaie’s lead from above; you can follow me at http://twitter.com/Crozon