Social proof

Social proof is the principle that under uncertainty people take others' behaviour as their guide: what many choose must be good or safe. Reviews, bestseller labels, queues and market leadership draw their force from it, and it works strongest under doubt and when the others resemble the chooser. For brands the lesson is double: communicating popularity is rarely bragging but functional information, and big brands benefit automatically, which helps explain why market share reinforces itself. The flip side: fabricated proof, from fake reviews to bought followers, is manipulation and increasingly punishable as well.

Covered in