Social Media and the Art of Persuasion

by Stephanie Lemieux (November 04, 2009 – 8:07 GMT)

After braving the high winds, rain and herring here today in Aarhus, Denmark, I had the pleasure of sitting in on the J.Boye keynote session by BJFogg of the Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab.

BJ’s topic was how social media uses (and we can leverage) persuasion techniques to influence behaviour. As an intermittently avid and lapsed Facebook and Twitter user, most of this talk felt like a session “on the couch” trying to deconstruct why we do what we do…

Triggers, Motivation &Ability

BJstarted his talk with the notion of hot vs cold triggers. Hot triggers give users an immediate and obvious call to action (e.g. a sandwich board inviting you to come inside a store to have a coffee for 1$). Cold triggers are calls to action that can’t be immediately acted upon (e.g. an advertisement for a movie or play – you have to call or go to a location to buy tickets).

Social media often uses hot triggers, sending you notifications to see people’s feeds, see who has friended you, etc. But as BJexplains, triggers are not enough to create behaviours. You also need motivation.

Continues @Social Media and the Art of Persuasion | Earley & Associates.