Comments on: Proof that Popularity Breeds Popularity

By: laurence haughton

laurence haughton — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:28:39 +0000

Does being “famous” trump being “really good?” Yes!

But simply emptying the bank for promotions won’t make you famous. There’s more to it. So watch your wallet.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:08:11 +0000

“Popularity = quality for these items. I don’t think that holds true to the same extent for something like… appliances.”

Dude, you clearly don’t watch HGTV.

Same with power tools on those decorating and home improvement shows. I showed my wife that Craftsman power tools spec out better than most, if not all of the leading brands, but she wanted “all DeWalt” because that’s what Debbie Travis uses (among others). The power of tee-vee.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:53:59 +0000

David,
Not really because the group that couldn’t see the download #s still had the same list of songs to listen to, but chose different favorites. The implication is that the ones that that “view downloads” group picked wouldn’t have been their favorites if they hadn’t been able to see the downloads. Of course, one could argue (as I often do) that perception is reality and if they believe they like those best, who cares that they might have thought differently under different scenarios.

The point of this though, and the question I come back to from this study, is this – given a limited amount of resources, should you skimp on product quality and spend on promotion? For some goods like music and other forms of content, that may be the case. Popularity = quality for these items. I don’t think that holds true to the same extent for something like… appliances.

By: David G

David G — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:38:01 +0000

It doesn’t say that the # of downloads shown to the “social” group were randomly assigned. If they were not, i.e. if they were an actual count, this study is moot – and merely indicates that we’ve learned to use popularity to maximize our search effort. I think the more interesting angle here is how do “one-hit-wonders” make it against such odds.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 04:34:17 +0000

Laurence,
It definitely helps if you say something people want to hear. Here in Louisville we have one of the largest churches in the country. Many people from the other churches criticize them, saying they are only the most popular because they present a weak and easy message.

David,
That is true but I think there is a flip side to that coin. Sometimes people think something is working when it really isn’t. They have success because of x, but attribute the success to y.

Eric,
Subjective measures are internal and non-measurable. I would say popularity is an objective criteria. Your reason for using popularity could be subjective, but the measure itself isn’t. Now that I have said that, I am thoroughly confused and don’t know how to answer your question. Let me get some sleep and try again in the morning

By: David Foster

David Foster — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 23:25:35 +0000

Laurence…seems to me that affinity for popular management theories should be correlated with how measurable one’s job is. For example, a sales manager with a quota to meet needs to care about whether the theory actually works, not just whether it sounds good. Ditto for a manufacturing manager. The HR manager, on the other hand, is less measurable, and will have more of an affinity for the trendy.

By: laurence haughton

laurence haughton — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:02:25 +0000

This is a good start on popularity Rob but there’s more to it, isn’t there?

For example take “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” as a very popular book. It’s not just that it is popular, nor that it is mentioned by influential people but it has certain characteristics that allow it to get the benefit of both of those “popularity accelerators.” Good to Great, Tipping Point, Blink etc. have those characteristics as well.

Go back to music and think about pop music. I think the characteristics of real pop music are evident in what’s popular in management theories.

Do you disagree?

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 20:47:56 +0000

Thanks. I should have added to the post than this is part of the reason this site gets more traffic that many other better written biz blogs. I had a first mover advantage.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 19:51:04 +0000

Rob,

This is one of your best posts this year. Great job.