Facebook weaponizes social proof by dressing commerce as friendship.

Evidence

Nodder highlights Facebook’s precocious mastery of “social proof”: “Much of our behavior is determined by our impressions of what is the correct thing to do… based on what we observe others doing.… This influence is known as social proof.” The company instrumentalizes this aspect of adolescent nature by using messages from “friends” to make a product, service, or activity feel “more personal and emotional.” This ubiquitous tactic, much admired by Pentland, was used in the Facebook voting experiment. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1455

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘social proof’ as a designed platform lever, not just a spontaneous social phenomenon.
• XREF: connects to: Facebook pursued chatbots to own the interface for online commerce — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 88; Facebook exploits the psychological needs of young people during identity formation. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1421; Facebook cultivated the self-as-brand among ordinary individuals — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1004 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Facebook cultivated the self-as-brand among ordinary individuals #expands (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1004
• Facebook exploits the psychological needs of young people during identity formation. #expands (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1421
• Social media promotes an ideal of privatizing the self into corporate form #expands (0.82) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 354
• Facebook’s behavior modification operates covertly at scale with no social or legal controls #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 955
• Social media is precision-engineered to exploit adolescent desires for peer recognition. #expands (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1432