Wired Magazine has a provocative piece by Clive Thompson about the extent to which group-think drives our likes and dislikes. The story focuses on some cleverly designed experiments by Duncan Watts and Matthew Salganik, which strongly suggested to Watts and Salganik “that half of a (pop) song’s movement could be attributed to intrinsic appeal. The rest was luck. Rerun history, it seems, and Madonna could be working as a waitress.” (Follow the link above to read this article.)
One important lesson that indie artists can draw from all this is that testimonials from people who love your work are likely to be powerful influences on other people visiting your site, so your site should showcase these positive impromptu reviews. Apparently, most of us find expressions of authentic enthusiasm by others reassuring—encouraging us to click the “like” (or more importantly) the “purchase” button—perhaps more than we care to know. We’re all busy—with far too many appeals for our attention than we can reasonably deal with. Sometimes we just follow the crowd.