Social Proof and Adaptive Radiation

[I'll let you come up with the significance in choice of photo]

Some things really make you think about what kind of person you are.

Not in a judgmental way, like thinking you are good, bad, ugly, beautiful, normal, weird, etc. Just simple reflection.

For example, I was thinking about a topic I had presented on while driving home and in some circuitous route I can't really recall now I ended thinking about the concept of social proof. My topic had nothing to do with business, marketing, or sales by the way. I have no business background, don't read business books, and haven't taken a business class.

In a nutshell, social basically means any activity a person does that lends credibility to something. It could be people conspicuously using a product or service, giving an explicit endorsement, and so on. It doesn't even have to be intentional. If you ask someone where they had dinner and they mention a restaurant three other people have mentioned, that person is just answering your question but along with the other mentions it might make you want to go.

This then made me think of being an early adopter of any kind of behavior. In the right context, if someone does something that no one else is the crowd is doing, and if that person is unashamed and really getting something out of their activity, there is a chance others will join. Maybe out of pity, curiosity, spontaneity, or some other reason.

This is early social proof. It encourages others to join, then others, then still others. It can become really popular, but the coolness factor and credibility goes primarily to the innovator and early adopters. If the popularity reaches a critical mass the number of adopters may skyrocket during a "fad" phase. This may spawn many imitations or innovations along similar lines.

Eventually the fad wanes and many varieties of imitation and related innovation disappear. Even the population engaged with the original innovation may shrink to a much smaller size or even disappear itself.

Then I thought about how this pattern sounds very similar to major evolutionary events centered around some key novelty. The events are known as radiations.

So I thought I should think about this sometime to see if I could figure out what the connection might be.

That's just an excerpt of my thirty five to forty mile drive through the country. In case you were curious what it would be like to eavesdrop on what goes through my mind when my thoughts are wandering. Or in case you also find the similarity worth pondering.