Comments on: The Psychology of Social Currency

By: Why we ‘like’ | Eat Sleep Social – Mike Phillips

Why we ‘like’ | Eat Sleep Social – Mike Phillips — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 19:24:02 +0000

[…] speaking there are four types of content that we like: content that our friends will be entertained by, things that our friends will find […]

By: Eat Sleep Social « Mike Phillips – Internet Adventurer

Eat Sleep Social « Mike Phillips – Internet Adventurer — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:25:54 +0000

[...] At it’s simplest, Eat Sleep Social is a place where I try to offer an opinion about social media best practice, but in reality it’s more often a place I go to rant about it. From time to time I create sarcastic presentations such as “How to not act like a Dick in Social Media” and draw wanky diagrams / models such as the “Social Currency Wheel“. [...]

By: Mike Phillips

Mike Phillips — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:19:59 +0000

That sounds fascinating, is there any write up of your study? It’s worth noting that the identity and significance over lap in our views, and it could be that the knowledge / information could be where I make the split into knowledge / utility / entertainment / monetary. Maybe I was just trying to cover all the possible bases, whilst you wanted to keep it as simple as possible?

Would love to read more about your study and findings.

By: Duncan Stuart

Duncan Stuart — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:58:39 +0000

Agree with your article but only part of the way. In several studies of young people, and looking at what they exchange in terms of social currency, we found three basic purposes of exchange: Knowledge/Information (as a way of facilitating conversation…belonging) Brands/Possessions (as a way of expressing identity) and Competency (think skateboarders) who in furthering and sharing their skills with peers – as a way of expressing and developing one’s sense of significance.

We found individuals play all three cards, but tend to be Information dominant, Brand dominant or Skills dominant. A blessed few have a balance of all three: a hand of cards with all the aces. And the research really showed that these people had a self confidence that others lacked. On the flipside were people who really lacked any aces at all – and in a high school context they had little to exchange with others – no gossip or information, no possessions or brands, and no particular skills. They get branded as the slackers, though I always remind my clients that the slackers occasionally rise up and take over the world – think Grunge/Seattle early 90s.

To a great degree, the currency that young people choose is determined by a mixture of their own personality (gregarious or not, for example) versus their own resources. If you aren’t a football star or a half amazing skateboarder, or if can’t afford the cool brands you choose what’s available – to talk about music, TV shows, Hollywood gossip or local gossip: that is you trade the cheapest currency which is information. Pokemon Cards used to fall into this class of currency – and that was part of their huge success. They provided the outlier kids with a currency to get back into the game.

A fascinating subject. But I differ on your “Four Types of Value” analysis. I think it can be boiled down simpler. Cheers.