Contagious

02Designing for Social Currency and Status

We humans are deeply social creatures, and whether we like to admit it or not, we care intensely about how other people perceive us. From the moment we wake up and choose our clothing for the day, to the type of car we decide to drive, to the neighborhood we choose to live in, we are constantly broadcasting signals about our identity, our status, and our personal tastes. A luxury sports car does not just provide transportation; it tells the world that the driver is successful, bold, and wealthy. A vintage band t-shirt does not just provide warmth; it signals that the wearer has a deep, nuanced appreciation for underground music. What Jonah Berger brilliantly points out is that the things we choose to talk about serve the exact same purpose. The information we share is a form of currency. Just as we use actual money to buy physical goods, we use Social Currency to buy positive impressions in the minds of our peers. To truly understand how this works in the real world, take a stroll down St. Marks Place in New York City’s East Village. If you look closely, you will eventually stumble upon a rather unassuming, slightly gritty little eatery called Crif Dogs. It is a fantastic place to grab a deep-fried hot dog, but on the surface, there is absolutely nothing about it that would cause a global sensation. However, if you walk inside and look toward the back corner of the restaurant, you will notice a vintage, wooden telephone booth. If you step inside that cramped booth and dial a very specific, secret number on the old rotary phone, a voice will answer. If you are lucky enough to have secured a highly coveted reservation, the back wall of the phone booth will suddenly swing open, revealing a hidden, dimly lit, incredibly chic speakeasy called Please Don't Tell. Getting a reservation at Please Don't Tell is an absolute nightmare. The phone lines open at three o'clock in the afternoon, and they are usually completely booked for the entire evening within minutes. Yet, they have never spent a single dime on traditional advertising. So, how did a bar hidden behind a hot dog stand become one of the most famous drinking establishments on the planet? The answer lies entirely in Social Currency. When someone discovers a secret, hidden bar, they feel like an ultimate insider. They feel cool, connected, and in the know. What is the very first thing a person does when they feel like an insider? They tell absolutely everyone they know. They bring their friends, guide them through the hot dog stand, step into the phone booth, and watch their friends' jaws drop when the secret door swings open. By providing an experience that makes the customer look incredibly cool, the bar essentially bribes its patrons into doing all of the marketing for them. This concept of Social Currency is built on three key strategies. The first is finding inner remarkability. Something is remarkable when it is unusual, extraordinary, or completely breaks our standard expectations of how the world works. Think about the beverage company Snapple. If you twist the cap off a bottle of Snapple iced tea, you will find a strange, trivial fact printed on the underside of the lid. You might learn that a kangaroo cannot walk backward, or that an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. Why does Snapple do this? Because these facts are utterly remarkable. When you learn an incredibly bizarre piece of trivia, you cannot keep it to yourself. You immediately turn to the person sitting next to you and share it. By providing these remarkable little nuggets of information, Snapple gives people a way to seem highly interesting in social situations. In return, the consumers naturally bring the brand into their daily conversations. The second strategy for building Social Currency involves leveraging game mechanics. Human beings are inherently competitive. We love to measure our performance, track our progress, and most importantly, compare ourselves to others. This is why airline frequent flyer programs are so unbelievably successful. Airlines created a system of tiers—Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Elite. On the surface, these programs exist to offer free flights. But in reality, they exist to create a powerful status hierarchy. People will happily pay more money for a ticket, or take an entirely unnecessary connecting flight, just to ensure they maintain their Platinum status for the following year. Why do they do this? Because game mechanics provide a tangible measurement of social standing. When a traveler flashes their shiny Platinum card to board the plane before everyone else, they are visibly demonstrating their superiority in the travel hierarchy. They love to naturally drop their status level into conversations at dinner parties, proudly complaining about how many miles they had to fly that month. The airline gives the customer an arbitrary game to play, and in their quest to win the game and look important, the customer remains fiercely loyal to the brand and constantly talks about it. The third and final way to generate Social Currency is by making people feel like insiders through scarcity and exclusivity. Scarcity means limiting the amount of a product that is available, while exclusivity means limiting the access to that product based on specific criteria. Consider the rise of flash-sale websites like Rue La La. These platforms offer high-end designer clothing at massive discounts, but the sales only last for a very brief period, often just twenty-four hours. Furthermore, in the early days, you could not simply sign up for an account; you had to be personally invited by an existing member. This combination of extreme scarcity and strict exclusivity created a frenzy of demand. People desperately wanted access to the site because they were told they could not have it. The velvet rope effect made the platform seem infinitely more desirable. When someone finally got an invitation, they felt like they had been granted access to a highly exclusive club. And naturally, they immediately utilized their Social Currency by bragging to their friends and distributing their own limited number of invitations. We all possess a deep, psychological desire to look smart, wealthy, cool, and connected. If you can design a product, an idea, or a message that genuinely helps people achieve that desired image, they will eagerly spread your message to the farthest corners of the globe.

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