persuasion | Mike McRitchie | Resume and LinkedIn Profile Writer

How Facebook’s Birthday Notifications Trigger All Six of Robert Cialdini’s Influence Principles

October 27, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

: benstein / Foter / CC BY

So today I’m celebrating my 50th birthday by writing a blog post about celebrating birthdays…on Facebook.

Birthdays on Facebook are like getting everyone in your high school class to sign your yearbook. It is exciting to hear from everyone. It is typically the most liked/commented event/post all year.

Facebook makes it easy. They always remind you when you go to check your feed.

So why is it so successful at getting your FB friends to wish you a happy birthday?

Well looking at Robert Cialdini’s Six Key Principles of Influence, you can see why it is so successful. Let’s look at each individually.

Reciprocity

Starting off easy. If you wished them a happy birthday, they most likely will reciprocate. Even if you missed it, they probably aren’t sure so they’ll probably still do it (also covered in another principle – Social Proof).

Commitment and Consistency

If they wish one person in their friends list a happy birthday, they’re likely to do the same for all of their friends if prompted (they must remain consistent with an earlier established pattern).

Social Proof

We are social animals. If you are shunned, you die. You see this with people who retire and lose their social network (it used to be the average retiree would die within two years of retirement – note to self, better get more social lol). Facebook makes this extra noticeable to draw out those introverts out. Birthday wishes show on that person’s wall for everyone to see. Do you want to be the one who forgot???

Authority

People tend to obey authority figures (like policemen before all the bad press). In this instance the authority figure is the all-knowing-Facebook. They prompt you from your home page in case you forgot. And they make it easy by letting you post from your home page itself. Really easy.

Liking

This is the old classic – popularity. Are you likeable? This is probably less noticeable in the actual response of your Facebook friends but is more obvious in how many friends they have. Are all friends the same? Probably not as in real life. But you certainly won’t have a large friends list if you stay in your cave (unless it is a cool man-cave…then you’ll have lots of friends).

Scarcity

Your birthday is only one day a year so scarcity is built in. Even Facebook doesn’t remind you if you’re a day late to the party. You snooze, you lose. So you must act fast. Nothing more frustrating than finding out a day late…do you give a belated wish?…or just hope they didn’t notice? Ah the quandaries of the 21st century.

So to everyone out there, thank you all for the Happy Birthday Wishes. And at 50 years old I hope the next 50 are just as good (might as well shoot for 100 right???)

You Won’t Believe This Secret Jedi Mind-Trick Trump is Planning to Unleash at the CNN Debate

September 15, 2015 by Mike McRitchie 1 Comment

Trump has pulled a lot of psychological persuasion levers to consistently drive his poll numbers higher.

Looking at Dr. Robert Cialdini’s, “Six Key Principles of Influence”, let’s review what Trump has done thus far.

Reciprocity

He gives free helicopter rides. He signs his book, “The Art of the Deal”. He gives hats to supporters. He gives away free tickets to big rallies – and people come from miles around to see him in person – something that people don’t get to do everyday (see a celebrity).

Commitment and Consistency

His “Make America Great Again” and “He’s Stupid” or “Low Energy”, etc., etc. just like his “Your Fired!” in The Apprentice show, repeated over and over show he knows what he’s about and what he’ll do for the voters.

He doesn’t get cow towed by the reporters who try to corner him with their questions. He just pushes back (more commitment and consistency that his supporters love).

He has and wear’s his red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap and his supporters do too.

He learned from Obama’s “Hope and Change” mantra – keep it simple and repeated again and again and you won’t have to go too deep into the details.

Social Proof

Trump is the king of social proof. He tweets. He’s all over the TV networks. And when he’s on, ratings go through the roof. He draws tens of thousands of people to his rallies.

Authority

Respected Senator Jeff Sessions coauthored Trump’s immigration plan. At the time Trump was constantly being beat up for not having substance and being accused of not being serious. He laid out a very detailed and well thought out plan by partnering up with an authority on the subject, Senator Jeff Sessions. And then got Sessions to join him at rallies.

Trump has further used this by coming on Bill O’Reilly’s show, known for asking tough questions. Trump knew that by taking those questions head-on, he could beat back many who say he’s not conservative enough or light on knowledge of the issues.

Liking

Donald plays on his fame from his books and TV show. He also fights back like his supporters often wish someone would do for them and the way they would like to do it. They’re tired of politicians using double-talk and bowing to the wishes of everyone else but them. And in all they like that he seems to want to do something to make America a place we can be proud of again.

Scarcity

For scarcity he talks about China and Mexico taking our jobs. He talks about an overly complicated tax code that hurts middle class Americans. He talks about an economy that is pathetic and needs good leadership to get things going again. All scarcity topics.