Here’s the most compelling stuff we found all week, plus what I published. I hope that’s compelling, too!
My Stuff
Internet trolls are toxic to communities, and their antics can drive away productive and helpful members. The common assumption has been that the anonymity of online posting lets otherwise good people act out in obnoxious ways. Well, think again. As I describe at Forbes (@Forbes), new research shows Internet Trolls Really Are Psychos.
Here’s a scary thought. You probably use multiple screens simultaneously (e.g. reading or posting via your phone while watching TV). A new study shows that people who do this (I’m one!) have less gray matter in an important brain area, the anterior cingulate cortex. Do Twitter And TV Shrink Your Brain? explains the findings.
On The Brainfluence Podcast this week, I have a great conversation with marketing (or UNmarketing) expert Scott Stratten (@unmarketing). Scott is a bestselling author (and delivers great keynote speeches). Scott and I talk about the danger of “funnel vision,” how even powerful loyalty programs don’t negate bad service, Scott’s new Unselling book, and more. . Listen to Ep #27: Unselling with Scott Stratten or read the transcript of our chat!
From Around the Web
Does your business get reviewed? You had better hope for sunny weather! Believe it or not, analyzing a million Yelp reviews showed that weather strongly correlated with ratings given on that day. Derek Thompson‘s (@DKThomp) How Consumers’ Moods Drive Decisions reveals some of the strange effects of the interaction between mood and behaviors like shopping.
We all know about the “paradox of choice,” but businesses sometimes have to offer a great number of choices to satisfy their customers. (Amazon, anyone?) Dr. Liraz Margalit‘s article, The Psychology of Choice, offers actionable advice on how ecommerce sites and other businesses can display items to avoid paralyzing their customers by overwhelming them with choices.
One of the most popular topics among social media users is, not surprisingly, how to use social media. Sandeep Sharma (@sharma_sandeep) departs from the usual “how to get more followers” and similar themes in These 7 Social Media Psychology Lessons Will Make Your Marketing Smarter.
Images are one of the more overlooked aspects of creating high quality, very clickable content – all too often, a cheesy stock photo is added at the last minute, or no image is included at all. Buffer’s Kevan Lee (@kevanlee) knows a thing or two about creating content that gets clicked and shared, so check out his list of 23 Tools and Resources to Create Images for Social Media.
To some, neuromarketing is a panacea that can solve every marketing problem. To others, it’s all smoke, mirrors, and hype. Mike Umogon takes a measured approach in his post, When Neuroscience Can Help Marketing Communications.
True or false? Business decisions are almost always made in a well-reasoned and rational way, based on a careful analysis of the facts and predicted outcomes. Sadly, that’s not always the case – even CEOs have emotions and gut feelings, and can make poor decisions when cognitive biases influence their judgment. Freek Vermeulen (@Freek_Vermeulen) has the prescription to fix that in Take the Bias Out of Strategy Decisions.
Internet trolls are funny sometimes but I do agree normally their comments do tend stir on the negative side, however, if you don’t possess the cognitive ability to spot a troll and ignore them then that’s your fault.
Jon, there are all kinds of trolls. Some are obvious from the first inflammatory post. Others post an “innocent” question that could be ill-advised but legitimate, or a deliberate attempt to start a flame war. A few are subtle. I had to deal with one a while back that was smart, knowledgeable, sometimes helpful, and an active community contributor. But, in a significant portion of his posts, he would make a subtle comment that was a dig at rivals. Often this took the form of “damning with faint praise.” A mild form of trolling, perhaps, but it created divisions in the community and, as the pattern emerged, many member complaints. Attempts to reform his behavior failed, but I was genuinely sorry to have to resort to banning him. He had the potential to be a great contributor.
Interesting piece. Pretty crazy to see that internet trolls rank that highly on the psychopath scale. Although not entirely surprising, it takes a certain type of person to go out of their way to devote their time to criticizing others with no material benefits for themselves.