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Connected for Good: How Social Networking Sites Impact Behavior

by Andrea Hill on June 1, 2009

On June 19th, Tonya Peters and I will be presenting at the Social Marketing in Public Health conference in Florida. We will be combining our areas of expertise (behavior change, social media) to discuss How Social Networking Sites Impact Behavior.

Abstract

Influence. Persuade. Convince. Countless words have been written about the art of deliberately and directly influencing people to change their behavior, but what are we overlooking that can help us get our job done? Social networks are not new to those seeking to mobilize resources and impact change but in an evolving era of online interaction, social networking sites also have significant implications for social marketers and how they can inadvertently impact the way people act.

Learner objectives

At the conclusion of this session, the learner will be able to:

  1. Describe how social networking sites serve as a tool for social marketers and can enhance social marketing campaigns.
  2. Understand how behaviors are influenced by social norms within a social networking site.
  3. Identify and leverage the right social networking site elements to help meet behavior change and programmatic objectives.

Significance and Implications for Social Marketing

Social networking by its very nature segments audiences into groups with similar preferences and interests. Social marketers can leverage these networks to position and promote their message, engage dialogue and model behavior change in both implicit and explicit means. Trust and reputation are strong influencers in an individual’s decision-making process and are key factors in reducing the perceived or real costs to a specific behavior. By participating in a social networking site, individuals may find themselves unwittingly modifying their behavior to both model and adhere to the societal norms established within their social circle.

We are limited to a half-hour time slot, which will obviously not be sufficient to share all our insights on this topic. We will continue to elaborate on this topic on this blog as time goes on.

Tagged as: behavior change, conference, social marketing, social media, speaking

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