Someone, Anyone, No-One: These psychological scenarios provide a heuristic to understand recent innovations and help us to predict where we might go next in Social Media.

1. Someone, Anyone, No-one
The Psychological Drivers Behind Social Innovations

2. Three Psychological Scenarios Online
Someone Anyone No-one
Baroness Susan Greenfield: ID: The Quest for Meaning in the 21st Century and Mind Change

3. The Someone Scenario
Characteristics
Aspiration to a unique, fulfilled self, often driven by consumerism
Someone
● React well to personalised messaging
● Creative can engender envy of a projected, potential future self
● Choice and interactivity are paramount

4. A Coke is a Coke and no
amount of money can get
you a better Coke than the
one the bum on the corner is
drinking.
All the Cokes are the same
and all the Cokes are good.
Someone - The Illusion of Personalisation

5. ● Use CRM data to feed personalised ads
● Track meaningful metrics - tailored GA goals and
ROI measurement
● Multi-Product Ads for suggested content
● Video retargeting; lookalike audiences based on
those who interact
Someone - Innovations and Opportunities

6. The Anyone Scenario
Characteristics
The individual identity is subsumed into the mass collective,
providing a sense of belonging
● Generalised, impersonal narratives that engage with the zeitgeist
● Appeal to universal, intrinsic human qualities such as curiosity and
empathy
Anyone

7. “To be at the centre of the
world, and yet to remain
hidden from the world [..]
The spectator is a prince who
everywhere rejoices in his
incognito.”
Charles Baudelaire, The
Painter of Modern Life
Anyone - The Anonymity of the Crowd
● Appeal to intrinsic curiosity
● On trend, offer social status
● Belonging without commitment
But does popularity equate to quality?

8. The No-One Scenario
Characteristics
An abnegation of the self; an individual becomes a passive recipient
for their senses
● Promise of instant gratification - likes, shares, comments
● Visceral messaging; the immediacy of imagery appeals
● Caused by underactive prefrontal cortex (responsible for
planning and decision-making)
No-One

9. “But pleasures are like poppies
spread:
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is
shed;
Or like the snow falls on the
river,
A moment white - then melts
forever”
Robert Burns, Tam O’Shanter
No-One - The Promise of Gratification
● Interactions cause dopamine
release; and therefore
anticipation of further reward
● Small pieces of visual information
are easily digested
● Unpredictability - withholding
updates, surprising customers
How can we experiment further?

10. How Should we Adapt?
Harness technological advances to enhance creativity - new media require new
messages. We have only begun to experiment with these latest developments
Create more meaningful measurement frameworks. The value of Social and the
traffic it drives is lost too frequently
Strategise with these timeless psychological scenarios in mind. Demographic
data is crucial, but people are often driven by atavistic factors too

11. Thanks!
clark.boyd@croud.com
@clarkboyd