This document discusses social media's influence on conformity. An experiment showed that people who asked for feedback on social media designs of custom vehicles made bigger changes to less distinctive designs. There are three types of conformity: compliance, where one publicly complies but privately disagrees; identification, deeply changing views to match others'; and internalization, permanently changing personal views. While social media can increase awareness, its influence to conform poses risks like loss of innovation and decreased customer loyalty.

1. Social Media’s Influence to
Conformity

2. While social media has allowed us to
stay constantly connected

3. The effect of sharing on social media
leads to acts of conforming to others’
feedback

4. Consider the following experiment:
In a world of mass customization, an automaker offers
14 different choices for customers to design their own
vehicles

5. Of 833 consumers, the 149 of them who asked for feedback on
social media brought bigger changes to their initial design,
especially when they had distinguishing features.

6. Overall, the resulting cars from those who received feedback had
features far less distinctive than those who did not.

7. This experiment comes to show that
social influence and conformity are
ever present in our digital era.
It is important as users to understand the pressures of conformity.

8. What is conformity?
It is the change in behaviour
as a result of perceived
pressure from a group
There are three main types
of conformity

9. Compliance
The act to comply behaviour publicly but disagree privately in
personal views
First
type

10. So why comply?
There are many reasons to comply:
• A low self-esteem or high anxiety
• A lack of further knowledge, so comply to expert
• An ambiguous or crisis situation, exposing an individual
to unfamiliar territory leads to adopting social norms

11. Most importantly though...
To gain group approval, from a low self-esteem to
a liking of the group, individuals seek social
acceptance

12. Dangers of Social Media
Connected to everyone, social media makes
conformity an increasing concern
Your opinion posted on social media is permanent!
With thousands of friends online, the last thing
you want is to become the odd man out.

13. A jewelry designer who asked 1,092 women to
create their own earrings while being consulted by
online friends.
Take for example

14.
The women who received consultation from peers were far
more likely to change their initial and final designs and had
a harder time to decide.
At the end, they were less satisfied with their
final result.

15. A follow-up research a few weeks later asked the women if they
wanted to sell the jewelry back.
Of 46 women, the average woman who got feedback from social
media wore their earrings one third less and were willing to sell
them for 14 francs while women who had no social media influence
requested at least 40 francs.

16. But let’s delve a little deeper…
Conformity on social media can have many
consequences like loss of innovation and creativity
on the individual
But can also be detrimental to companies who seek
customer loyalty through customization, as seen in
the previous example

17. Identification
Second
type
The act to change public behaviour as well as personal views.
It is a deep process led by the exposition of other people’s views.

18. The most notorious example is during World War II,
when many non-Jewish individuals conformed to Hitler’s
anti-Semitic views

19. “Be sure your brain is engaged before your
mouth (or fingers) move!”
-Joe Mosed Jr.
But conformity is not all bad

20. The Voting Experiment
A study shows that, with
social media, the increasing
number of posts from your
friends voicing their political
view will lead you to heighten
the importance of the
elections. Awareness will
bring you to go vote and
overall, a higher percentage
of individuals voted as a
result.

21. Internalization
The act of permanent change in personal views
This is when people discover their identity, which can be
accelerated through social media
And lastly,
the third type

22. As digital users, it is important to be aware of the
conformity surrounding you when making decisions
So while social media can increase awareness
and self-actualization, its influence to conform
has as much of its risks.

23. Works Cited
• http://hbr.org/2013/07/conformity-and-the-crowd/ar/1
• http://www.lucifereffect.com/guide_conform.htm
• http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/hrcr11/hsadat2.html
• http://wps.prenhall.com/
hss_aronson_socpsych_6/64/16428/4205685.cw/-/4205769/
index.html
• http://talkingclimate.org/guides/using-social-norms-social-networks-to-
promote-sustainable-behaviour/
• http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/conformity
Pictures retrieved from personal photo album, Google and Flickr under
CC