Working with social proof

Working with Social Proof as a Guide to Practice

John David SmithLearning Alliances

Some terms to frame this session

• “Working with”– Our work is collaborative, creative and evolving

• “A Guide”– Our use of today’s discussion involves

interpretation, re-expression, & appropriation• “Practice”– We participate in, design or facilitate learning in

communities, classes or other events• We are evidence and detectives at once

Defining Social Proof

• A means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other think is correct. – The principle applies especially to the way we

decide what constitutes correct behavior. – We view a behavior as more correct to a given

situation to the degree that we see others performing it.

—Cialdini (1984, 2007) p. 116

In this conversation we should focus both on what people “know” and on their “learning behaviors.”

Influence as every-day learning

• Influence of celebrity role models• Reducing phobias in children• “Pluralistic ignorance” – bystander inaction• Strongest when those we observe are most

“like us”• Group-think in communities, teams, society– Beneficial or negative (Lave & Wenger, etc.)– Unconscious learning about learning (Lave, 2011)

Increasing Social Proof on The ‘Net• Increased connectivity– People are “always on, always available”

• New modes of engagement– Easy publication and re-appropriation

• Changing geographies of community & identity– Customization, boundaries evolve & dissolve

• A socially active medium– “We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our

buildings shape us.”

Wenger, White & Smith 2009, p 174

Social Proof as a learning strategy

• In general: Who to follow, shadow, copy?• Strategy choices– Ethnographers: observing meaning-making– Entrepreneurs: seeking to meet people’s needs– For learning, we oscillate between strategies

• Jerry Michalski (http://www.sociate.com)

– Follows people he’s identified as “curmudgeons”– Jerry proves that his strategy is effective

Identify, Follow the Contrarians(to find new views, experience, & networks)

http://bit.ly/15bu2CV

Where do contrarians fit in our communities?

Social proof & communities of practice

When social proof is dense and is magnified by ongoing interactions, shaping the beliefs and behavior of a group of people, we have a community of practice.

Enabling social proof in community• A recent client’s goals were very lofty:– Establishing an international community of practice

to help rebalance the relationship between field-staff relationship & HQ staff, improve use of technology, and become “a learning organization”

• Community leader doing all the right things:– Tools: email lists, websites, docs, recordings– Engagement: Face-to-face events, webinars,

discussions, back-channel exchanges– Enlistment: personal network, staff support, etc.

Coaching story, continued• Normal obstacles: time, resources, continuity• BUT: very slow growth & limited uptake– Not getting much help from others– Stuck in “HQ knows all—does all for us” paradigm

• Social proof as a blind spot?– Obstacle to change…. ?– Isolation: of activities and of tools from each other– Coaching conversations focused on connecting

dots (activities & tools)

Social proof & community structure

“Core” suggests “proof“ has happened.Where / how do “core interactions” happen?Is the core visible? Does it benefit the edge?

“Edge” suggests “proof” is happening.Is the periphery visible to the core?Are newcomer views & actions visible?What access to the core do they have?

There are many more questions to be asked…

Social proof & social learning activity

Looking over someone’s shoulder.Conversation.Share notes to extend participation.

Naming a shared experience.Recording and note-taking.Routinizing sharing practice.

Note: Cycle vs. dimension perspectives

Tools for access to thought & behavior

Google Docs Twitter

Skype Adobe Connect

Remember: Cycle vs. dimension perspectives

We can’t escape social proof

Design

Facilitation

When is “proof” really proof?(A: As we make sense of people’s actions)

• Where do we find sociability & negotiability?• Both participation & reification – As dimensions– As a cycle

• Coherence between kinds of proof:– Individual (learning)– Community (innovation)

• Weaving a much larger (global?) fabric

Persistent questions for us all

• When or what are “we” or “they” learning?• Social proof:– Which actions of which people are good models?– What knowledge of which people is helpful?

• Ourselves as actors:– Linking or separating conversations or communities– Linking or separating channels (technologies)– Are we making sense or making noise?

Thank you!http://LearningAlliances.net

[email protected] +1 (503) 963-8229

Twitter & Skype: smithjd

Working examples?

• Foundations of Communities of Practice workshop:http://learningalliances.net/services/learning_events/cpw-story/some-conclusions/