Keynote speech given at Club of Venice conference on March 22, 2013.

1. Persuasion, Contagion and
Ethics in Social Media
Mischa Coster @mcoster
#AdaptResist
March 22, 2013
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2. Behaviour change
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3. Effect?
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4. Mischa Coster
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5. My goal
Not to educate, but to
provide a different
perspective on government
communication
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6. Question
"Public communication in the
evolving media landscape:
adapt or resist?"
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7. Adapt? Resist?
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8. Among other clarifications, a commission spokesman explained
that savers would not be protected by the EU law guaranteeing
deposits under €100,000 because this law only applied in
cases of bank insolvency. The background briefing was then
itself interrupted when press officers saw Tweets on their
Adapt? Resist?
mobile phones that continued to refer to "commission sources".
The story of the background briefing that was Tweeted live is at
the end of the day another example of a disruptive technology
running rings around an institution's attempts to manage
information. Once again, the EU has fallen behind the curve.
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9. Answer
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10. Topics
✓Social by Design
✓Heuristics
✓Persuasion
✓Contagion
✓Ethics & Conclusion
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11. Social by Design
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12. People value what their
friends & family think/do
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13. Social gen 0
Not Social
“READ THIS”
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14. Social gen I
“FOLLOW US”
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15. Social gen II
“SHARE THIS”
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16. Social gen III
‘Social by Design’
“SEE WHAT YOUR
FRIENDS ARE DOING
WITH THIS”
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17. Why do we follow/
imitate/value our social
surroundings?
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18. Heuristics
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19. WHITE COAT
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20. MORE=IMPORTANT
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21. Persuasion
Dr. Robert Cialdini
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22. Liking
People follow the lead of
those like them
- their friends
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23. Liking
Word of Mouth
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24. Liking
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25. Commitment-Consistency
People fulfill written, public,
and voluntary commitments.
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26. Commitment-Consistency
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27. Commitment-Consistency
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28. Labelling
We know the citizens
of .......... to be ..........
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29. Authority
People defer to
experts for decisions
requiring specialized
information
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30. Authority
65%
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31. Authority
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32. Authority
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33. Loss Aversion
People will avoid losing things
that are valuable to them
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34. Loss Aversion
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35. Social Proof / Consensus
People follow the lead of
(similar) others
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36. Social Proof / Consensus
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37. Contagion
Professor Jonah Berger
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38. If SbD facilitates WoM, what
about our message?
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39. Contagion
✓Social Currency (Make us look good)
✓Triggers (Top of mind, Tip of tongue)
✓Emotion (When we care, we share)
✓Public (Built to show, Built to grow)
✓Practical Value (News you can use)
✓Stories (Information travels as a story)
Source: Contagious (2013) by Jonah Berger
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40. So, when does ‘nudging’
become ‘manipulating?
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41. Manipulation?
✓Honest
✓ Authentic
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✓Ethical

42. Manipulation?
✓Honest
Make sure what your are
communicating is true.
✓ Authentic
But: don’t be hesitant in
discovering and sharing
persuasive content
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✓Ethical

43. So...
✓‘Social by Design’ facilitates
citizen participation
✓Governments can also use
Persuasion techniques, ethically
✓Create and/or find Contagious
stories
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44. Conclusion
Social by Design
Ethical Persuasion
Contagious stories
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45. Unless...
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46. THANK YOU
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47. More information
international workshops, consultancy, projects
Grey Matters helps you apply psychological insights
in marketing & communication activities
@mcoster
linkedin.com/in/mcoster
facebook.com/mcoster
mischa@greymatters.nl
http://www.greymatters.nl (Dutch)
http://www.marketingfacts.nl/psychologie (Dutch)
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