Social Influence: Incorporating Social Identity Theory Into Design
- July 25th, 2014
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No chairman is defence from a change of a people and groups they encounter. As many as we would like to cruise that any suspicion we have is original, that any opinion we denote is sensitive by contribution alone, a law is that we use others around us as a anxiety point for many of a attitudes and behavior. This isn’t a bad thing; it’s tellurian nature.
Knowing how groups change people can assistance we to pierce from being a common, everyday, work-your-fingers-to-the-bone engineer to a vital influencer of your aim assembly with relations ease. In fact, either researchers, designers or managers, everybody concerned in user trust (UX) pattern would benefit from deeper trust of how to incorporate amicable influence in their work.
In this article, we’ll concentration on how concepts compared to amicable temperament speculation — a speculation within a psychology margin of amicable change — can assistance UX professionals to some-more effectively incorporate amicable change in their work.
Social Identity: Old Theory, New Application
Way behind in a day (1979, to be exact), Henri Tajfel published a chapter1 (PDF) arguing that, in many situations in life, an sole acts not as an individual, though as a member of a organisation they brand with. Think of someone who identifies with a certain domestic celebration though is not good sensitive on a possibilities or issues they are voting on. When they step into a voting booth, they opinion down a celebration line usually given they brand with a values and beliefs of that sole party.
2According to amicable temperament theory, one import of identifying with a sole organisation is that a closer that people feel to a organisation (the “in-group”), a some-more uniform their function will be and a some-more expected they will courtesy members of other groups (“out-groups”) as being cut from a same cloth, ascribing disastrous attributes to those out-groups.
Example: PC vs. Mac
Let’s demeanour during an instance from a Apple commercials of not so prolonged ago4. According to Apple, those who use Mac products are cool, irritable and hip. Members of this organisation would brand themselves as possessing those traits and would brand those who use Windows-based PCs as being uptight, bleak and behind a times. Apple hoped that viewers would buy into these associations with Windows PC users. Thus, not wanting to brand with a organisation deliberate bleak and boring, some people would wish to squeeze a Mac product. Apple used amicable temperament in an try to favour an opinion towards a product that would lead to a certain function (in this case, purchasing a Mac product).
How Is Social Identity Developed?
An sole forms and reinforces their amicable temperament by dual pivotal processes:
- Self-categorization
This refers to how an sole assigns themselves and others to categories formed on beliefs, behavior, attitudes and other characteristics. To continue a example, “I cruise like a hip, smart person” would be in line with being a Mac user, and “You cruise like a closed-minded, bleak person” would be a trait of a Windows PC user. - Social comparison
This refers to a routine of comparing others to oneself and labelling their traits as being like (in-group) or distinct (out-group) your own, mostly comparing certain or disastrous attributes with a group. For example, “Mac users wear spare jeans and don’t tuck in their shirt,” that is seen as desirable, while “Windows PC users wear suits,” that isn’t desirable.
Of course, many people are members of churned groups. This can mystify things. Also, amicable temperament does not totally establish an individual’s attitudes and behavior. Applying amicable temperament speculation will boost your change on users though will not pledge a success. Many other factors change a person’s decisions, including a persuasiveness of a design. Nevertheless, requesting amicable temperament speculation could lead we to larger results, with reduction output of resources.
Let’s demeanour during how amicable temperament speculation plays out on a web.
A Social Identity UX Case Study: Facebook
Love it or hatred it, Facebook is aristocrat of amicable networking for a reason. Social change and amicable temperament concepts have been successfully incorporated in a network.
Facebook’s Use of Self-Categorization: In-Group
Creating a form on Facebook5 is an initial step in fasten a organisation — we are now a partial of Facebook, a group. And what typically causes someone to join Facebook6? The reason is that they wish to go to amicable groups that reside on Facebook (an instance of self-categorization), and they wish others to see what they are doing and clamp versa (social comparison). Members of Facebook already have these amicable characteristics in common.
An sole who creates a form on Facebook is singular usually by how they select to self-categorize. Other people can afterwards perspective a following:
- photos they’ve posted,
- jobs they’ve worked at,
- sports teams they like,
- books they’ve read,
- events they’ve attended,
- groups they go to.
7You can customize your form to brand with amicable groups that we align with and to concede others to simply find out either they would bond with we over certain things, so enhancing your in-group ties.
How Social Identity Might Play Out on Facebook
Imagine that we posted a criticism pity my perspective that a US men’s soccer organisation is higher to Brazil’s inhabitant organisation (delusional, yes, though greatfully work with me). One of my stream friends likes my comment. This friend’s “like” shows adult in a newsfeed of one of their friends, Jim, who lives in Philadelphia and is an zealous US fan. Jim sees a criticism and clicks on a couple to my profile. Perusing my profile, that is configured to be permitted to friends of friends (they’re in-group, too, we know), Jim sees that we live in Philadelphia and am a fan of his favorite band, Sleigh Bells9.
Jim sends me a ask for loyalty over Facebook. In response to his request, we check out his form and see that he has identical interests, lives in my city and is friends (at slightest on Facebook) with identical people. we accept his crony request. We have usually strengthened a amicable tie, validated a in-group temperament with any other and detected reasons to be active users of Facebook. The unfolding could play out in many ways from here, including indeed assembly with Jim and anticipating additional common interests and friends.
What Does Facebook Get Out of Facilitating Social Transactions?
You competence be thinking, “But these are all feel-good things — people aren’t profitable to be users of Facebook.” True, though we wouldn’t have to demeanour distant to see that amicable temperament and change have benefited entrepreneurs in amicable media10. Additionally, Facebook marks people’s sell of information in ways we can usually imagine, essentially to aspect promotion and other promotions. Perhaps Jim and we are now on Facebook’s list of Philadelphia residents who are fans of US soccer. Perhaps we’ll both start to see paid advertisements in a feed from internal venues that horde soccer-viewing parties. That’s a win for Facebook, a win for advertisers and a win for Jim and me (but mostly Jim).
Add to this a other amicable sell that users can make over Facebook:
- post cinema and tab friends,
- comment on what others have posted,
- create groups,
- suggest that other friends join groups and like pages.
You can see how Facebook has used a beliefs of amicable temperament speculation (perhaps inadvertently) to turn a biggest actor in amicable media.
There’s more.
Facebook’s Use of Social Comparison: Out-Group
Facebook facilitates out-group interactions as well. Remember that identifying those not like we reinforces your temperament usually as much.
Let’s contend that Jim from a before instance checks out another person’s form and finds that they go to a animal rights organisation PETA. The chairman has posted a few comments indicating out a rights of animals. (Please note that this is merely an instance to explain out-groups in a context of amicable identity. we do not have an connection with any of a groups mentioned here. Eat beef or don’t — it’s your choice.)
As an zealous hunter and wearer of excellent furs, Jim sees this as being out of line with his amicable temperament (making a other chairman partial of an out-group), and maybe he ascribes disastrous characteristics or traits to this chairman that he identifies as belonging to all PETA members (for example, dismissing him as a “vegan bulb case”). Being encouraged to opposite PETA’s viewpoint, Jim searches Facebook for anti-PETA groups to join. He finds and likes Hunters Against PETA, where he is means to consort with like-minded peers.
11Once he is gentle with a group, Jim comes behind and posts a criticism shown below, formed on a new run-in he had with PETA folks on a university campus. Note a denunciation he uses to pile all PETA members as “freakin’ psychos,” a transparent out-group generalization. Jim doesn’t know many, maybe any, PETA members good adequate to systematise them as “psychos.” While he’s on a page, Jim links to a form of another organisation member and sees that they share 26 friends. Jim sends this member a crony request. Jim’s ties with Facebook and Hunters Against PETA have now been strengthened by amicable comparison.
Why Would Facebook Want to Facilitate Out-Group Interactions?
As with certain in-group interaction, Jim is now a stronger member of a Facebook community, and Facebook has available his interests and interactions for destiny offered campaigns. Jim competence not accept any serve ads for campaigns to lift income or recognition for animal rights, and he competence see some-more ads about internal gun shows, secluded lift classes and any other interests that associate members of Hunters Against PETA have been found to share. Jim competence also use Facebook more, suggestive he can find like-minded people who are opposite a same groups he is against.
How Non-Social Media Websites Incorporate Social Identity Theory
Not that this is rocket science, though if we don’t solemnly incorporate elements of amicable temperament speculation to residence amicable influence, afterwards we run a risk of, first, doing it wrong or feeble and, secondly, blank out on opportunities to change users that your competitors will take advantage of. This goes over e-commerce websites. Pew reports13 that people have looked to a Internet for years to foster their organisation connectors and serve a causes of their groups. While we can't pronounce to a financial efficacy of a examples below, a companies do denote how to incorporate amicable change into design, thereby augmenting a seductiveness and efficacy of their products.
The Columbus Dispatch
Email and amicable media are common platforms by that in-groups share articles from online news outlets. The Columbus Dispatch14, like many online news outlets, enables people to simply share notable articles by email and renouned amicable networks. Not usually does this worsen a trust of and seductiveness in a subject among a group, though it tells members that a organisation as a whole considers The Columbus Dispatch to be a infallible source of news. The news opening advantages from increasing traffic, trust and prominence among members.
15The plan can backfire. By displaying a series of shares, The Dispatch also tells users that articles are not popular. A miss of pity competence deter some users if they cruise an essay would not be renouned among their group.
Kiva
Kiva17, a height that helps sole lenders make micro-loans by fasten them to micro-finance institutions around a world, uses both self-categorization and amicable comparison to foster lending. Individuals can join a organisation that aligns with a organisation they feel connected to (self-categorization) and review what people in out-groups are lending (social comparison). Theoretically, this should emanate foe between distinct groups, lifting some-more income altogether for micro-finance institutions to give to borrowers. It is substantially not a fluke that a default perspective of a organisation inventory (shown below) shows an non-believer organisation immediately followed by a Christian organisation (the tip dual contributing groups in accumulative dollars). The right row of a shade displays a leaderboard, highlighting that groups are lifting a many supports recently.
18Again, this plan could backfire. If a impending member sees that a organisation is struggling to lift funds, ideally they would be desirous to join that group, lend some-more income and partisan others to contribute. However, if they trust that any bid they spend to pull a organisation forward of a container would be fruitless, afterwards they competence minister to a organisation though not join or competence find another venue in that to contribute.
Similarly, if a impending writer saw that a organisation has not had any new activity, they competence select not to join a organisation or not contribute.
Amazon
Mega-retailer Amazon20 doesn’t bashful divided from wielding amicable influence. Individuals can share what they have purchased on a accumulation of renouned amicable media platforms. A discerning refurbish on Facebook that we have found a good understanding could net utterly a few some-more sales over time from others in your group. Showing others your identical ambience in products (social comparison) or emulating a offered habits of people we brand with (in-group) is as elementary as clicking a mouse.
21The intensity smirch in this pattern is that totally bypassing this form of amicable change is as elementary as not clicking a button. The questions and reviews sections for products concede for some-more strong amicable exchange, where review is generated that can truly change purchasing decisions.
Pandora
Pandora23 is a height on that users try music, emanate channels formed on interests (self-categorization), share those channels (in-group) and crop channels combined by others (social comparison). Users can find who among their friends have common song channels by logging in by Facebook. Additionally, users can select either to share their channels, provident them any annoyance if they occur to be a fan of song that some in their amicable circles would cruise to be out-group.
24Nike+
Nike+26 connects members to a amicable network of peers who offer motivation, hurdles and recommendation on running. Nike+ highlights a vast series of people in a village on a alighting page (shown below). Users also see Facebook friends who are members of a website. That’s adequate to remonstrate many people that they will find a likeminded sole or dual with whom to form a organisation once they register.
If a new member realizes that those they cruise in-group are regulating some-more than they are, maybe they will boost their monthly fast to be some-more in line with their in-group. Running can also be facilitated by amicable comparison; if they cruise regulating conflicts with what an out-group would do, an sole competence cruise fasten an in-group that defines themselves as runners and competence record their runs on Nike+.
27Why does Nike care? More regulating means some-more products to be sole — oh, and a network of millions to collect information from and publicize products to.
Mendeley
Mendeley29 extends amicable temperament to educational journals. Much of what becomes renouned in educational speculation and novel happens given academics share work that they honour with other academics (in-group sharing). With Mendeley, we can find groups formed on common subjects of seductiveness (self-categorization) and see what others in these groups are reading and pity (in-group and amicable comparison).
30Leveraging amicable comparison, Mendeley enables members to see that articles are being posted, who has posted that articles and how many other users have review a sole article. These forms of statistics are really successful with academics, who need to stay stream on novel deliberate applicable in their field. Mendeley allows for self-categorization by display people what others are reading and allows for amicable comparison by display what groups others go to.
32What Not to Do: Social Grocery
Social Grocery34 provides justification that creation something amicable and incorporating a tenants of amicable temperament speculation don’t indispensably meant that a try will be a success. Moreover, job something amicable doesn’t make it so. we can’t pronounce to a financial state of Social Grocery, though a website and amicable media efforts prove that it is not now facilitating amicable interactions effectively.
35The association attempts to request amicable temperament speculation by enabling people to publicly post grocery equipment that they like or dislike, make comments about those equipment (self-categorization), see what others in their amicable networks have posted and reviewed (social comparison) and acquire points to boost their standing in a group. Part of a trouble, as we saw with The Columbus Dispatch, is a miss of posts and farrago of participation. A demeanour during Social Grocery’s alighting page shows a three-day opening between posts (assuming that all posts are displayed chronologically), and of a 3 many new posts, usually one chairman motionless to “like” something that someone else had posted. The miss of comments creates a trust blank of suggestive amicable communication over a five-day duration lonesome by a 3 posts.
A series of additional problems exist.
Social Grocery seems to have deserted a try to emanate a low amicable network. The screenshot above shows that a few people still actively use a website. However, a discerning burst to a company’s Twitter feed (below), that is directly related to from a home page, shows that it has not tweeted given Nov (presumably 2013 though maybe even one of a years prior). Prior to those Nov 4th tweets, a subsequent tweets are from Apr 2012. “Social” Grocery? It doesn’t seem so.
37Social Grocery’s Facebook page (below) has over 3,000 likes — not bad, many some-more than a series of friends we have. However, they have not posted anything for approximately dual years. While Facebook asks me to entice my friends to like this page, we would be broke if my friends suspicion we wanted them to be compared with this page (they competence entice me to turn a member of an out-group in response!).
39The takeaway is that Social Grocery is about dual years derelict in implementing Kevin Stone’s advice41 on how to close down a unwell product in a cool way. we consternation who a few wandering users of this product are and what advantage they get from stability to post on a website.
From a discerning demeanour by Social Grocery, a user competence establish that it is an out-group and that people like them usually wouldn’t use it.
How Can Social Identity Theory Work For You?
The examples above yield food for suspicion on how we competence incorporate some of a tenants of amicable temperament speculation to change your users. Much of what has been finished is sincerely intuitive, generally given a bang in amicable media, an epoch in that users assume that they will be means to correlate with your product socially. So, what can we do to incorporate amicable temperament into your product?
Ask Questions
In all of this, don’t remove steer of your audience. User investigate is vicious to successfully implementing any amicable temperament strategy. Answer a following questions before implementing it in your design:
- How do your users rivet with your product outward of a digital realm?
- What common practice with your product do users share?
- Are there extreme differences in lifestyle between your user types?
- How do competitors rivet socially with their users? Are their efforts successful?
- Where is a low-hanging fruit? What processed amicable practice can we dump into your pattern in sequence to strike a belligerent running?
- Are we committed to ancillary a amicable interactions around your product for an unfixed duration of time while it grows?
- Does incorporating amicable elements into your product even make sense? (If you’re offered groceries, afterwards maybe not.)
- Perhaps many importantly, how will we promulgate to users a opportunities to correlate socially around your product?
- Being means to promulgate effectively with your assembly is a exigency to requesting any amicable psychology principle. You don’t wish to send churned messages that lead people to feel that usually an out-group would use your product.
Analyze a Opportunities
If we haven’t finished so yet, take a closer demeanour during what we offer and how it could be extended by amicable temperament theory. Are there opportunities for people to bond around your product? It could be as elementary as emulating Amazon by enabling users to share their purchases with friends.
Do we have any venues for groups of people to plead your product, share sell and make recommendations? Can we gain on in-group meditative by display who else uses your product and providing testimonials? Nike+ has a some-more strong doing than many would cruise necessary, and formed on a distance of a community, a try to gamify regulating has proven to be successful.
Can we create competition by display how use of your product would compute in-group members from those they cruise out-group. If we framed it right, we could play both sides of a coin? Like Kiva, could we rise some healthy foe between groups to see who can be a tip user of your product?
Social Grocery demonstrates a significance of committing to your amicable networks. “Seeding” amicable communication is vicious for any website whose owners aspires to incorporate a beliefs we’ve looked at. It doesn’t take many effort; we don’t have to reinvent a wheel, given Facebook, Twitter and other amicable networks already yield a framework. Enabling users to couple to your product by existent networks is a by-pass to facilitating amicable interactions on your website.
You don’t need to do all with amicable identity, though do be wakeful of your options and a turn of bid compulsory to exercise them. If we are usually starting to incorporate amicable concepts into your product, afterwards you’ll need to rise a network fast or rest on an existent network to enthuse others to use your product. You need to dedicate to progressing a network or else users will not hang around for a prolonged haul.
Additionally, to request amicable temperament theory, you’ll need to prominence how use of your product would make someone some-more identical to an in-group or reduction identical to an out-group. And, importantly, you’ll need to dedicate a time, bid and resources to rise and exercise a methods of amicable change that you’ve chosen. Doing this while following a beliefs of amicable temperament speculation in your pattern will urge a trust of regulating your product, boost conversions and authority larger honour for we in a market.
Summary
Social influence, quite amicable temperament theory, provides pivotal concepts for we to residence by UX design. You can change people by solemnly incorporating amicable temperament concepts into your design. Knowing a speculation and how it plays out in genuine life will capacitate we to plead with colleagues and intensity clients how and because your pattern will be effective during conversion users.
Incorporating these concepts into your pattern will cover areas that many of your competitors would differently have taken advantage of and will position we as a engineer of change among your users and peers.
Additional Resources
Designing around amicable temperament is a formidable process. Here are some additional resources to assistance we along a way:
- “Reach Your Customers While Social Media Peaks42,” Tessa Wegert, ClickZ
- “How to Make Your Website as Social as Your Customers43,” David Williams, Forbes
- “Designing for Social Interaction: Strong, Weak, and Temporary Ties44,” Paul Adams, Boxes and Arrows
- “Social Identity and Self-Categorization45,” Psycholopedia
Includes countless educational references
(al, ml)
Footnotes
- 1 http://www.ark143.org/wordpress2/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tajfel-Turner-1979-An-Integrative-Theory-of-Intergroup-Conflict.pdf
- 2 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/01-vote-party-line-opt.jpg
- 3 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/01-vote-party-line-opt.jpg
- 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KSm-uFE-gAindex=54list=PL897F81394E9BA810
- 5 http://www.facebook.com
- 6 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886911005149
- 7 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/02-facebook-profile-opt.jpg
- 8 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/02-facebook-profile-opt.jpg
- 9 http://www.bitterrivals.us
- 10 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3objectid=11257677
- 11 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/03-hunders-against-peta-opt.jpg
- 12 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/03-hunders-against-peta-opt.jpg
- 13 http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/01/18/the-social-side-of-the-internet/
- 14 http://www.dispatch.com/
- 15 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/05-columbus-dispatch-sharing-opt.jpg
- 16 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/05-columbus-dispatch-sharing-opt.jpg
- 17 http://www.kiva.org/
- 18 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/07-kiva-opt.jpg
- 19 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/07-kiva-opt.jpg
- 20 http://www.amazon.com/
- 21 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/08-amazon-share-opt.jpg
- 22 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/08-amazon-share-opt.jpg
- 23 http://www.pandora.com/
- 24 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/09b-pandora-opt.jpg
- 25 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/09b-pandora-opt.jpg
- 26 http://nikeplus.nike.com/
- 27 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10-nike-opt.jpg
- 28 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10-nike-opt.jpg
- 29 http://www.mendeley.com/
- 30 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/11-mendeley-people-opt.jpg
- 31 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/11-mendeley-people-opt.jpg
- 32 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/12-mendeley-group-opt.jpg
- 33 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/12-mendeley-group-opt.jpg
- 34 http://www.socialgrocery.com/
- 35 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/12-social-grocery-opt.jpg
- 36 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/12-social-grocery-opt.jpg
- 37 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/13-social-grocery-twitter-opt.jpg
- 38 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/13-social-grocery-twitter-opt.jpg
- 39 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/14-social-grocery-facebook-opt.jpg
- 40 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/14-social-grocery-facebook-opt.jpg
- 41 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/05/19/last-goodbye-shut-down-failing-product/
- 42 http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1699974/reach-your-customers-while-social-media-peaks
- 43 http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidwilliams/2012/02/28/how-to-make-your-website-as-social-as-your-customers/
- 44 http://boxesandarrows.com/designing-for-social-interaction/
- 45 http://www.psych-it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=75
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Social Influence: Incorporating Social Identity Theory Into Design
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