Table of Contents
Introduction vi
1 The web is changing 1
How the web is changing 2
Why the web is changing 9
Why the social web is important to your business 11
Summary 13
Further reading 14
2 How and why we communicate with others 15
Why we talk 16
What we talk about 18
Who we talk to 23
Summary 26
Further reading 27
3 How we're connected influences us 29
The structure of our social network 30
People naturally form groups 36
Social network structure changes how we're influenced 42
Summary 47
Further reading 48
4 How our relationships influence us 51
Relationship types and patterns 52
Strong ties 59
Weak ties 62
How relationships change 66
Summary 67
Further reading 67
5 The myth of the "influentials" 71
Highly connected does not mean highly influential 72
Ideas often spread because people are influenceable 74
How hubs spread ideas 77
Summary 81
Further reading 82
6 We are influenced by what is around us 85
Social proof 86
influence within groups 90
Influence within our extended network 94
How experts exert influence 95
Summary 97
Further reading 97
7 How our brain influences us 101
We are not rational thinkers 102
Most of our behavior is driven by our nonconscious brain 107
Our memory is highly unreliable 111
Summary 113
Further reading 114
8 How our biases influence us 117
Other people bias us 118
Our perception of value biases us 120
Our habits bias us 123
Environmental cues bias us 125
Summary 126
Further reading 127
9 Marketing and advertising on the social web 129
The problems facing interruption marketing 130
The rise of permission marketing and word of mouth 133
Building trust and credibility 139
Summary 143
Further reading 143
10 Conclusion 145
The social web today 147
The next few years 149
Acknowledgments 152
Index 154
