Social Influence Trumps Independent Choice: ARF Interview with John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer

Though marketing research professionals are inundated with news and opinion about social platforms like Twitter Facebook YouTube and Flickr we rarely discuss what puts the quotsocialquot in social media John Kearon Chief Juicer at BrainJuicer is one of the insightful few who looks to apply anthropology primatology network theory and other behavioral sciences to market research We got the chance to ask Kearon a few questions about how social choice works ARF What39s the best strategy for getting insight on how social media influences individual consumer choiceJohn Kearon What Mark Earls and I have dubbed 39MetoWe Research39 Let39s stop asking direct questions of unreliable witnesses Me Research and explore the greater potential for truth and valuable insight by mining our ability as social animals to understand and predict other people better than we do ourselves We Research We Research includes techniques pioneered by BrainJuicer like Predictive Markets which across hundreds of experiments have been shown to be a better way to screen ideas for potential Mass Ethnography where you ask an army of willing respondents to conduct ethnography to a brief and DigiVidualsamp8482 or research robots programmed to scan the web for appropriate content to create a rich persona against a marketing constructARF How do you think social media has influenced our daily lives in terms of choice JK In our modern times where almost 50 of the world39s population live more isolated lives in big cities social media is a timely reminder that we are social animals and it39s a suitably modern tool to enable us to connect with more people than we ever could living in small groups in the countryside A recent largescale study showed that part of Facebook39s appeal is its ability to enhance our selfesteem These fast social media feedback loops seem to allow us to learn and evolve faster than we ever haveARF How can insights on social and individual choice help us manage the complexity of contemporary lifeJK Human beings are complex always have been always will be Social media hasn39t made us more complex it39s just helped us realize and see how complex we are It39s a bit like the academic saying quotthe more we know about a subject the more we know we don39t knowquot So for me these insights help remind researchers and marketers that consumer behavior is complex and subtle and we need to be dissatisfied with the current statisticsoriginated research tools and tap the breakthroughs in other disciplines like psychology sociology neuroscience and behavioral economics to create better ways to understand and predict behaviorWant to hear more John Kearon will be joining author Mark to discuss the mechanisms behind social influence at the ARF39s Rethink Convention on March 22 Registration is now open

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Social Influence Trumps Independent Choice: ARF Interview with John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer

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Social Influence Trumps Independent Choice: ARF Interview with John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer

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