How to analyze the 4 characteristics of online hot spots through user psychology

With the Internet so developed today, every hot spot on the Internet is a marketing tool pursued by Internet people. However, the hot spots that arise freely among netizens may not be suitable for every Internet company. Therefore, the topic of how to create Internet hot spots arises. But it is often difficult to understand why hot topics appear on the Internet. So in this article, I try to analyze hot topics on the Internet through some basic psychology knowledge, and try to clarify the characteristics of these network events from a psychological perspective.

Key points of this article:

Triggering unconscious group behavior by creating emotional fluctuations

The mainstream view in psychology is that emotions are extensions of feelings, and feelings influence a series of actions.

Emotion refers to feelings and their unique mental, psychological and physiological states, as well as a tendency to take a series of actions. —Daniel Goleman

I personally believe that unconscious group behavior is a character that is deeply embedded in the national culture, a subtle influence given to everyone by the general environment, and a cultural precipitation.

When an event happens to ignite the sediment of this culture, group unconscious behavior occurs.

Therefore, the unconscious behavior of the group cannot be measured simply by rational thinking.

"Group unconsciousness", as a typical group psychological phenomenon, is everywhere and has been silently and profoundly affecting our society, our thoughts and our behavior.

In real life, if we try to persuade someone to help us do something, most people will say something like this at the beginning: "This is easy for you, no big deal. I'll treat you to a meal after you've done it."

There are several potential messages in this sentence:

• If you succeed, you can get the reward I give you (psychological reward input)
• If you want to get the reward I give you, just do one very simple thing (the cost of making mistakes is low)
• The specific information of this matter was not told to you at the beginning (information asymmetry)
• Make you feel that your ability is recognized by me (psychological reward output)
• Make you feel like it's just a piece of cake to help me (habitual reflexes increase user thinking laziness and reduce the thinking process)

This is an example in daily life. Although I created your emotional fluctuations and tried to get you to help me, it is a one-to-one behavior and its spread is limited.

However, if such behavior is put on the Internet, due to the Internet's powerful communication capabilities, it is very likely to trigger unconscious group behavior.

For example:

A few days ago, there was a rumor on the Internet about "raising one yuan for donations on the same birthday" (it was revealed on the 24th that it might be illegal. We will not discuss whether it is illegal here, but only discuss its characteristics as a hot topic on the Internet).

I have summarized these potential messages into the following points:

• Fundraising can prove to yourself that you are caring (psychological reward input)
• You only need to donate one dollar (the cost of making mistakes is low)
• Forward your fundraising screenshot to let more people join you (psychological reward output)
• A simple photo can attract your love (information asymmetry)
• Retweeting is just a piece of cake (habitual reflexes increase users’ thinking laziness and reduce their thinking process)

1. Allow active communicators to obtain psychological rewards

First, let me explain what psychological rewards are:

Personal understanding: Psychological reward refers to the satisfaction that an individual gets through self-suggestion or group suggestion after completing a series of behaviors.

Psychological reward is not a psychology term, but a summary I made to facilitate my own understanding. The reward mechanism is not only applicable to material rewards or virtual rewards, but also to psychological rewards.

This psychological reward mechanism is very common. Today, as material life is getting better and better, people have moved from demanding material rewards to pursuing spiritual rewards. From donating to seriously ill patients they meet by chance to giving large sums of money to anchors in exchange for a beautiful woman's smile, we receive psychological rewards from ourselves and others all the time in our daily lives.

If online hot spots need to be able to make every audience become active disseminators, then when creating online hot spots, the reward mechanism needs to be able to satisfy users both when information is input (read) and when it is output (forwarded).

As shown below:

Although material rewards can also encourage users to actively spread the word, I believe that the high cost is not acceptable to every company, and material rewards cannot bring user loyalty, because material things can be measured and compared, and one of the basic psychological characteristics of human nature is profit-seeking consciousness. Rewards that can be concretized will be defeated by richer material rewards.

2. Information asymmetry

Information asymmetry is a simple economic theory, but I think it also applies to psychology.

The theory of information asymmetry refers to the fact that in market economic activities, different types of people have different understandings of relevant information; people who have more complete information are often in a more advantageous position, while people who lack information are in a more disadvantageous position.

The amount of information obtained can improve an individual's judgment ability. If information is scarce, anyone's judgment ability will decline.

We can regard the first disseminator of information about online hot events as a person who has relatively complete information and is in an advantageous position, while the recipient of the information is a person who lacks information and is in a relatively disadvantageous position.

The recipient who is at a disadvantage has reduced judgment ability due to insufficient information, and is thus affected by the emotions of the first communicator. He becomes the carrier of some facts intercepted by the first communicator and at the same time passes his emotions on to the next recipient.

In this model, there are two main reasons for information asymmetry:

• Affected by the communicator's personal emotions, thoughts and other internal factors
• External factors such as group pressure

So, we can learn two things from this:

• Including the first disseminator, it is impossible for all information disseminators except the information source to 100% restore the information source.
• Information asymmetry increases the success rate of information dissemination by reducing the judgment ability of the recipients.

3. Low cost of making mistakes

I think the low cost of making mistakes is a relative concept that exists at the same time as the assumed benefits gained. Everyone will weigh the pros and cons, and when the cost of making a mistake is inversely proportional to the assumed benefits, people are more inclined to engage in behavior that seeks to gain benefits (the benefits here include both spiritual and material).

The cost of making mistakes here refers to the price an individual pays for spreading information, which mainly includes two aspects:

1. The money, time, physical effort, etc. invested by an individual.
2. The punishment and pressure an individual receives from the group.

The corresponding assumed benefits:

1. Material benefits gained by individuals.
2. Rewards, praise, etc. received by an individual from the group

Under the current form of Internet communication, when communicators actively spread information, the punishment does not involve money, and the time and physical energy spent are very small. One-click forwarding or direct copying can quickly spread information.

Therefore, when designing hot spots, more consideration should be given to the rewards and punishments that individuals receive from the group, that is, the psychological rewards that communicators can obtain from being influenced by public opinion.

In addition to the "one dollar donation on the same birthday" incident mentioned at the beginning of the article, there is another online hot spot during Christmas .

For example:

This Christmas, the message "Give me a Christmas hat, @微信官方" appeared on WeChat .

In fact, I believe that every discerning person can feel something strange. Will @微信官方 definitely let me put a Santa hat on my profile picture?

But there are still many people who choose to forward this message. In addition to the curiosity and fun of the psychological rewards, the extremely low cost of making mistakes and the relatively high assumed benefits are also the reasons why most people choose to forward it.

However, we should be cautious about whether any online event involving moral public opinion can become a hot topic, because no disseminator, including the first disseminator, can restore the information to 100% authenticity. The cost of making mistakes is high, and once a mistake is made it will reduce the company's credibility and social reputation. Even if the benefits are high, one should be extremely cautious.

4. Take advantage of mental inertia

There are two types of lazy thinking:

1. Lack of proactive thinking;
2. Lack of proactive thinking.

Personally, I think the former represents more of an ability, while the latter represents more of a willingness.

The main focus here is on the latter, namely how Internet hot spots influence readers to develop a lazy mindset.

These hot topics often work to reduce proactive thinking in two ways:

1. Take advantage of the reader’s habitual thinking
2. Take advantage of the reader's habitual conditioning

Here I still use the "one yuan donation for birthdays on the same day" incident at the beginning of the article as an example:

Few people donate directly (of course, people who are philanthropic are great). It’s not that we don’t have love, but when we donate, we need to establish a connection, we need to look for the same characteristics in the other party, and use this to determine whether to take the next action.

This is the common thinking inertia of network marketing :

Conclusion

This article explains my personal insights on how some online hot spots create emotional fluctuations and trigger unconscious group behaviors from four aspects: psychological rewards, information asymmetry, low cost of making mistakes, and the use of lazy thinking.

Some off-topic remarks on marketing:

1. Routine is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it not only cuts the account book but also the conscience.
2. Less data analysis and more human perception will lead to better marketing.
3. Traffic cannot be equal to the value of a brand . Traffic can only be achieved if there is value.

The author of this article @Wingman compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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