Social Filtering – Why Some Ideas Get Shared and Others Fail

- June 3, 2010 by David McClurg

To help your idea, concept or campaign make it in the shareable world, check to see if it can pass three user filters: easy to understand, connectedness, ease of use.  If you like, you can download this article as a pdf.

Have you ever wondered why something successfully shared or went “viral” while another seemingly duplicate item failed? (My mother continues to ask this same question about my brother and me, but I digress…)

The answer is amazingly simple: Users must first connect to an idea before they can commit to it.

All digital assets should be managed on a continuum – from your site to your social campaign. But so should the processes you use to initiate, evaluate, and modify ideas. Through this line of thinking, the concept of a social filter came to life.

Social Filtering is a tool that can help maximize the possibility of a successful share and minimize the pitfalls of a potential fail. The graph below depicts this social filtering process and the three filters your idea must pass through.

Filter One – Simplicity

The concept itself can’t be difficult to grasp. If it takes a user a considerable amount of effort to learn how the idea connects to them, you’re creating a very large barrier to entry.

Let’s say your article title is “OMB indicates thresholds too high for premiums.” Unless you’re steeped in healthcare and government, you probably wouldn’t even skim the article. Who’s the OMB? Premiums for what? But if it were called “Five ways to save on healthcare” you’d initially connect, and then decide if you wanted to commit.

Filter Two – Connection Points

If your idea doesn’t have one of these connection points, your audience will not participate. Not all connection points have to be present, so it’s a matter of finding the right combination and weight as it relates to your idea and a user’s needs. The stronger the connection, the better the share.

Influencer – A user’s ability to commit is strongly influenced when an existing (real or virtual) relationship exists. The idea itself is able to leverage this relationship because users find it cool to be associated with something or someone.

Emotion – This is the strongest of the connection points. When we find something outrageous, funny, gross, etc, we’re going to send it along. Keep in mind that not all forms of emotion may synch with your brand identity. Although I would argue that we often confine our brand emotion more than we should. For instance, I have a strong suspicion the people at IBM laugh from time to time.

Value – Ever received an email from a friend or relative because it contained important information on why you shouldn’t drink coke next to your iron because it would tear a hole in the time space continuum? Ok, maybe that was just me, but when we find information important, we pass it along. Sometimes it’s as simple as a coupon or prize.

Filter Three – Ease of Use

You can have an idea that strongly connects to people on many levels, but if the execution is difficult or time consuming, you’ll block the commitment. Usability is still key. Unfortunately, this discipline is not understood or practiced as often as it should be.

Sharing typically happens at the moment of discovery. So if you require an action be completed that isn’t instant or immediately available, you’ve just blocked your commitment. For example, having users submit a product review that must include an image (of exact size) with a copy of the UPC symbol will probably stop the share dead in its tracks – unless the prize or reward overcomes this barrier.

Employ these three filters of Social Filtering to boost your idea’s shareability. Whether it’s an article, a contest or a newsletter, nobody’s going to pass it on if they can’t connect, commit, and easily share it.

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