Facebook and Mass Interpersonal Persuasion

Fast Company has an interview with Stanford Professor BJ Fogg called Why Facebook is Even Bigger Than You Think.  The subtitle is "why the social networking site is the most powerful thing ever invented." 

While I think things like the wheel, printing press, steam engine, antibiotics and few other inventions might place just slightly ahead of Facebook on the all time list, online social networking is clearly important.  Key quote on what Fogg calls mass interpersonal persuasion:

"Facebook takes very strong interpersonal influence dynamics -- the way people persuade each other face-to-face in small groups with peer pressure, reciprocity, flattery -- and allows those to be used on a mass scale because your social networks are built in. Friends influence friends, who influence friends, and that keeps rippling out. They can reach people very quickly for very little cost and ordinary people can set these in motion. It doesn't require a big broadcasting company or a big PR campaign. If you get the right message in the right way, you'll effect millions of people. Facebook has been the best platform for that, but I think in the future it will be commonplace."

The Society for New Communications Research recently released a study showing that consumers are increasingly using social media as described by Fogg.  And while I believe online social media usage is not yet fully mainstream, the era of mass interpersonal persuasion has clearly begun.