For interactive marketers, the comment may be the single most-feared aspect of an online social network. If you don’t allow comments, you risk being seen as anti-social, thus defeating the purpose of your presence on a social network. (The Web is predicated on conversation, after all.) The fear of what people really have to say about us is something we have got to get over, and quickly. There are missed opportunities in comments, when you see comments for what they really are: the online equivalent of gossip.
That’s a conclusion I arrived at after reading today’s BoingBoing post about the science of gossip. Evolutionary psychologists exploring why we gossip share their latest on why we can’t stop ourselves from dishing:
“Gossip can be a way of learning the unwritten rules of social groups and cultures by resolving ambiguity about group norms. Gossip is also an efficient way of reminding group members about the importance of the group’s norms and values; it can be a deterrent to deviance and a tool for punishing those who transgress.” [via BoingBoing]
In many popular online social networks, the comment is the currency of socialization. If you post a funny photo to Facebook, I leave a comment on it. If my band posts a new song to MySpace, we know how well it is liked by the comments we receive, and by how many other users add that song to a playlist.
As smaller groups within networks become more established, they also tend to self-regulate. For example, Consumerist.com hired a Comments Moderator who regularly updates the site’s Comments Code – which has actually brought back readers who abandoned the site after experiencing inappropriate comments from other users. The code reassured site members of the accepted norms of this community. Smaller special-interest groups like this, and the measures they take to reinforce a sense community, resemble the workings of tribal culture from which modern civilization evolved.
"In the distant past, when humans lived in small bands and meeting strangers was a rare occurrence, gossip helped us survive and thrive. Our modern-day infatuation with celebrities reveals the ancient evolutionary psychology of gossip in sharp relief: anyone whom we see that often and know that well becomes socially important to us." [via Scientific American]
Translated to online social networks: your brand may be the stranger who’s wandered into a small group with little or no proof of membership. That’s when it’s time to start speaking the language.
If comments are a form of gossip, and
Gossip is proof of membership in a group, then
Comments are proof of membership in a group.
Brands that want to fit in on social networks should take note. Consider leaving some insightful comments out there, and forget what your mother taught you about gossip being all bad.
Subscribe