Sabotage! When Social Proof Backfires
Social proof is one of the six pillars of persuasion. Robert Cialdini dedicates all of Chapter 4 — more than 40 pages — to social proof in his book Influence.
Of course, in a marketing setting, you want to use social proof to your advantage. But every once in a while, this technique can backfire.
A Live “Tweet-Stream”?
Apparently, at Yanik Silver’s Underground Seminar #6, they had planned to have a dedicated screen showing a live tweet stream of all the tweets about the seminar.
All the tweets tagged with #UG6 would be displayed on the screen during the seminar.
For some reason, they decided at the last minute not to go ahead with this plan. The live tweet stream was still on the Underground Seminar web site, but it was not displayed in front of the audience.
A Saboteur in Their Midst?
A jaded insider who caught wind of the live tweet stream decided to use it to broadcast his less-than-positive opinions about some of the speakers at the Underground Seminar.
He set up an anonymous Twitter profile (“Illuminated Dude”) for the sole purpose of covering — or, more accurately, exposing — the speakers at the event. You can see his profile here:
Not All Social Proof Is Good
In an ad or sales letter, you get to control the social proof. This is a situation where social proof can help further the sale.
But be careful about giving up control of social proof. It can easily turn against you, as the example above proves.
Personally, I’ve found Twitter to be a great place to build positive social proof. I’ve gotten a few unsolicited endorsements, which has been pretty cool.
And yet I don’t have a live, unmoderated tweet stream on my web site either. It would be way too easy for somebody with an axe to grind to take advantage of that.
Just something to ponder as we move deeper into the uncharted waters of social media.
-Ryan M. Healy
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