Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Six Patterns for Persuasion in Online Social Networks

  • Conference paper
Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 5033))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Social psychology research has shown that persuasion happens in predictable ways. To identify patterns of persuasion in online social networks, we studied Facebook as a persuasive technology. Using a Grounded Theory approach, we found and named six persuasion patterns. Four patterns that led to large-scale viral adoption—Provoke and Retaliate, Reveal and Compare, Expression, and Group Exchange—are native to Facebook. Two patterns—Competition and Deception—are adapted to Facebook. We describe these native and adapted patterns and offer psychological explanations for each. We conclude that persuasion in online social networks follows regular, observable patterns, and we suggest promising avenues for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Freedman, J., Fraser, S.: Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 4, 195–202 (1966)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hall, G.S., Motora, Y.: Dermal sensitiveness to gradual pressure changes. American Journal of Psychology 1(1), 72–98 (1887); For a more recent review, please see Goldstein. L. How to boil a live frog. Analysis 60(266), 170–178 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Glaser, B., Strauss, A.: The discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine De Gruyter, New York (1967)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Compete.com data and analysis (accessed on 3/9/2008), http://blog.compete.com/2008/02/22/15-million-facebook-application-users-in-jan-2008-more-statistics/

  5. Mann, C., Stewart, F.: Internet communication and qualitative research: A handbook for researching online. Sage, Thousand Oaks (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Staw, B.M.: The escalation of commitment to a course of action. Academy of Management Review 6(4), 577–587 (1981)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Fogg, B.: Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Gouldner, A.W.: The norm of reciprocity: a preliminary statement. American Sociology Review 25, 161–178 (1960)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dengerink, H.A., Schnedler, R.W., Covey, M.K.: Role of avoidance in aggressive responses to attack and no attack. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36, 1044–1053 (1978)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Festinger, L.: A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University, Stanford, CA (1957)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Grey, A.: Individuality, conformity and collective identity. International Forum of Psychoanalysis 2(1), 9–12 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Zucchermaglio, C., Talamo, A.: Identita sociale e piccolo gruppo [Social identity in the small group]. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia 27(3), 57–86 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jones, E.E.: Ingratiation: A social psychological analysis. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Fazio, R.H., Zanna, M.P., Cooper, J.: Direct experience and attitude-behavior consistency: An information processing analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 4, 48–52 (1978)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bar-Tal, D., Bar-Zohar, Y., Greenberg, M.S., Hermon, M.: Reciprocity behavior in the relationship between donor and recipient and between harm-doer and victim. Sociometry 40(1997), 293–298 (1977)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Baumeister, R.F., Leary, M.R.: The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin 117(1995), 497–529 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Scheidlinger, S.: Identification, the sense of belonging and of identity in small groups. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy 14(3), 291–306 (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Baumeister, R.F., Tice, D.M.: Anxiety and social exclusion. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 9, 165–195 (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Goffman, E.: The presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday, New York (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Leary, M.R., Kowalski, R.M.: Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological Bulletin 107(11), 34–47 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Cialdini, R.B., Levy, A., Herman, C.P., Kozlowski, L.T., Petty, R.E.: Elastic shifts of opinion: Determinants of direction and durability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 24, 633–672 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Lieppe, M.R., Elkin, R.A.: When motives clash: Issue involvement and response involvement as determinants of persuasion. Journal of Personality and Psychology 52, 269–278 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Tetlock, P.E.: Accountability and the complexity on judgment and choice: Toward a social contingency model. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 25, 331–376 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Lepper, M.R., Greene, D. (eds.): The hidden costs of reward. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Malone, T.W.: Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science 4, 333–369 (1981)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Cohen, A.R.: Need for cognition and order of communication as a determinant of opinion change. In: Hovland, C.I. (ed.) Order of presentation in persuasion, pp. 79–97. Yale University Press, New Haven (1957)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Cacioppo, J.T., Petty, R.E., Feinstein, J., Jarvis, B.: Individual differences in cognitive motivation: The life and times of people varying in need for cognition. Psychological Bulletin 119, 197–253 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Stone, A.R.: The war of desire and technology at the close of the mechanical age. MIT Press, Cambridge (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Nin, N.: Social networks and status attainment. Annual Review of Sociology 25, 467–487 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. DePaulo, B.M., Lindsay, J.J., Malone, B.E., Muhlenbruck, L., Charlton, K., Cooper, H.: Cues to deception. Psychological Bulletin 129(1), 74–118 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Trovillo, P.V.: A history of lie detection. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 29, 848–881 (1939)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Darley, J.M., Latane, B.: Norms and normative behavior: Field studies of social interdependence. In: Macaulay, J., Berkowitz, l. (eds.) Altruism and helping behavior, pp. 83–101. Academic Press, New York (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Festinger, L.: A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations 7, 117–140 (1954)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Bickman, L.: The social power of a uniform. Journal of Applied Social Pscyhology 4, 47–61 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Hofling, C.K., Brotzman, E., Dalrymple, S., Graves, N., Pierce, C.M.: An experimental study of nurse-physician relationship. Journal of Nevous and Mental Disease 143, 171–180 (1966)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305

    G. Michael Weiksner, B. J. Fogg & Xingxin Liu

Authors
  1. G. Michael Weiksner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. J. Fogg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xingxin Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Harri Oinas-Kukkonen Per Hasle Marja Harjumaa Katarina Segerståhl Peter Øhrstrøm

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Weiksner, G.M., Fogg, B.J., Liu, X. (2008). Six Patterns for Persuasion in Online Social Networks. In: Oinas-Kukkonen, H., Hasle, P., Harjumaa, M., Segerståhl, K., Øhrstrøm, P. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5033. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68504-3_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68504-3_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-68500-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68504-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics