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Fun with Psychology, Sociology
+
Social Media

2.
We are strange
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But often in the same ways
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Social Media Has More Payoffs Than We Think
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Luck = Outgoing = Connections
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http://www.theluckfactor.com/make-your-luck/build-a-network.asp

6.
Benefits Translate Into the Real World
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1398/internet-mobile-phones-
impact-american-social-networks
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7.
Sharing the Special
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Photo: “Sharing” by: ryancr on Flickr

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“If I’ve just read this story that
changes the way I understand
the world and myself, I want to
talk to others about what it
means. I want to proselytize and
share the feeling of awe. If you
read the article and feel the
same emotion, it will bring us
closer together.”
- Jonah Berger, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Wharton
- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/science/09tier.html 8

9.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjTaV01eOeM
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Awe makes you feel - and we all want to feel
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Psychology shows us how we make mistakes...
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Photo: “Hypnotised pumpkin” by minipixel on Flickr

12.
Problem:
The Curse of Knowledge
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We are greatly limited by
what we know.
It corrupts how we convey
things to others
And our perception of how
others see things.
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Problem:
Distinguishing Source
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15.
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pedobear
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http://pedobearpics.com/

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Illustration by Angela Merick
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http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/894999.html

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http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pedobear
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Pedobear added by artist Michael Barrick
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http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/894999.html

20.
[The Bad]
Metronews, Vancouver
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21.
Problem:
Rumors
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22.
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Sure, death is easy to disprove. But
what if the rumor isn’t as cut and
dry.
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Steve cheats on his wife.
Carol’s an anti-Semite.
How do you disprove that?
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32.
You can’t.
And it spreads.
And it doesn’t die.
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33.
“Here we are, quadrillions of
bytes deep into the
Information Age. And yet
information, it seems, has
never mattered less.”
-Elizabeth Kolbert, “The Things People Say: Rumors in an age of
unreason”, The New Yorker
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“[P]eople usually do not moderate their
position after hearing an opposing
opinion, but rather become more
extreme about their original view.
And, as easy as it is to spread a rumor,
it can be extremely difficult to squelch
one. Attempts to correct a rumor often
backfire and only cause people to
believe it more deeply.”
-Elizabeth Kolbert, “The Things People Say: Rumors in an age of unreason”,
The New Yorker (interpreting Cass Sunstein’s theories)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100901717.html

35.
Problem:
Lack of Context
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36.
"To an increasing degree, your silly,
confused, flirtatious, angry and
offensive moments, on Facebook and in
email or in daily life, are subject to
being recorded and stored (forever)
and, potentially, mischaracterized"
- Cass Sunstein 36

37.
We don’t have full story in 54 seconds
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38.
Problem:
We follow other people re: Popularity
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39.
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http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/st_clive_thompson

40.
Problem:
Myopia
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41.
“I interviewed gay men who thought
Friendster was a gay dating site
because all they saw were other gay
men...I interviewed teens who believed
that everyone on MySpace was
Christian because all of the profiles
they saw contained biblical quotes. We
all live in our own worlds with people
who share our values and, with
networked media, it's often hard to see
beyond that.”
- Danah Boyd, Social Media Researcher

42.
Problem:
We want it more if we think it’s scarce
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43.
Let’s pretend the supply here is limited
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44.
I’m going to assume they have plenty of these
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45.
Just an educated guess
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46.
More
Insight
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47.
“The widespread availability of world
wide fora does not create new social
or moral standards, it merely gives
people the opportunity to spread their
immoral ideas more effectively.
Instead of convicting sites like
Facebook, researchers on human
traits should praise them for easily
and freely externalising what goes
about in society.
- Blogger, Fabrice Hofman
http://fanemka.blogspot.com/2010/02/sociology-and-social-media-two-case.html
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49.
Who knew there was such demand?
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50.
We don’t always see what we think we do
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51.
Reference Articles, Experiments and
Books
See
http://delicious.com/mhamburg/PsychSocialMedia
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52.
Find Articles, Notes & Resources
You can find this presentation on:
http://www.slideshare.net/mhamburg
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53.
Contact Me
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