If you want to impact the behavior of a large group of people, how do you go about doing it? The answer to that, as Damon Centola discovered, depends on a number of factors. “How Behavior Spreads” describes Centola’s research results in making use of social networks and social media to spread new behaviors.
As you can imagine, there is no one simple way to effectively spread behavior. Centola starts by looking at how to influence the spread of a simple behavior such as getting flu shots (well, that used to be a simple behavior), versus spreading a more complex behavior such as establishing an exercise practices, purchasing a new product or supporting a new idea. His research began with computer-modeling simple populations. Eventually, he was able to work with live populations—online groups of people in a health education setting.
If you have a new idea and want to see it spread, is it best to educate leaders about it and hope that they will disseminate it? The answer is no, they might just shoot it down, then all is lost.
How about a grassroots style of campaign? Sure! But what does that look like?How many people need to be involved? What’s their relationship to each other? How similar are they to each other-and does that matter? Centola methodically looks at the parameters involved in spreading behavior, and lays the groundwork for deeper questions and understanding.
What I found fascinating was that Centola never had to discuss the spread of information, disinformation and political ideas on Facebook and Twitter to make his points. That was, of course, the elephant in the room. But I had little trouble connecting the dots from his research to the success of grass roots social media campaigns and of memes over the past several years.
The book is written for an educated lay person, and given that it discusses research, it’s relatively easy to read. It’s an interesting set of ideas. I recommend the book.