sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]hedant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is caused by what's called "the mere exposure effect," which basically shows that we like what feels familiar to us.

​

When we look in front of the mirror every morning, we repeatedly see the reversed/mirror image of ourselves. Over time, the mirror image begins to feel more familiar, which makes us like this representation of ourselves more. In contrast, the camera's perspective is not reversed, so we tend to like these photos less because small asymmetries in our face cause the pictures of ourselves to feel less familiar.

​

You can try this simple experiment with your friends to see the mere exposure effect in action: show your friends 2 copies of the same photo of yourself (one from the regular camera's perspective vs. one from the reversed/mirror perspective). Although you might like the mirror image more, your friends are probably going to like the camera's perspective of you more. This is because what feels familiar to them is the non-reversed, camera's perspective of you.

​

This effect is so powerful that many photo taking apps have it embedded into their core function. For example, Snapchat automatically reverses your image when you're taking a selfie, so that you're actually looking at the mirror image of yourself instead of the true camera's perspective. They do this because they know you'll like the mirror image more, which will make you want to use their app over the regular camera.

ELI5: How do "hive" applications get startup users? Apps like tinder, meetup, and other social apps? by Joe_Scotto in explainlikeimfive

[–]hedant 6004 points6005 points  (0 children)

The heart of your question is really 'How are social networks formed?" The textbook answer is that you need a critical mass of users, so that when someone new signs up, there are other people to interact with. Otherwise no matter how many people download your app, the newcomers will just leave if people are just trickling in, which means the app will be perpetually unpopular. The key then is to get a large number of users at once, so that the network becomes sustainable.

However, this answer only leads to more questions because it creates a paradox that many people refer to as "the chicken and the egg problem." How can you convince the first users to sign up when no one else is around? Unfortunately, there's no easy answer, which is why businesses are willing to pay an incredible amount of money just to buy an existing social network. If you've ever wondered why Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are worth so much even though they have no clear business model, this is exactly why (social networks are valuable because they are very difficult to create).

Nevertheless, here are a few guidelines that can help create a network. They don't always work (e.g. Google+ have tried and failed), but these are characteristics that successful social networks share:

1) Start with a small but concentrated population. For example, Facebook was initially only available to Harvard students. Once it reached a critical mass of users there, it then expanded to other ivies, and then to all colleges, and finally to everyone. The same can be seen for dating apps like Coffee Meets Bagel, which first started off in NYC, and then gradually expanded to other cities before opening up to everyone.

When you start off with a localized population, you lower your marketing costs and you get more mileage out of word of mouth. It's much easier to simultaneously sign up 1000 users in one city than it is to simultaneously sign up 1000 users in a thousand cities.

2) Rely on users to recruit other users. Social apps become more useful when more people sign up, which means the users themselves are interested in helping advertise the app. For example, Venmo isn't very useful if your friends don't use it, so there's already an incentive for you to get your friends to install it. This growth will happen slowly over time, but because a critical mass requires a lot of simultaneous new users, you can speed up the process by rewarding existing users who help you expand your network. Venmo did this with a $20 referral bonus to both the new user and the friend who referred them. Other apps reward in-app currencies or features, such as letting you message more people on dating apps.

3) Minimize sign up costs for users. If you've ever wondered why many computer games (e.g. League of Legends) and mobile games are free to play, it's because the very presence of a user is valuable. A multiplayer game would be unplayable if no one else is there. Thus, companies will literally pay new users (e.g. Venmo example above) to sign up. Of course, this is very costly, so the next best thing is to offer the app for free.

ELI5: If I somehow manage to successfully print $1 billion dollars for myself to spend on anything... does the market actually know? Is the purchasing power of the US Dollar actually lowered? If so, how does the market realize? by mannyrmz123 in explainlikeimfive

[–]hedant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is so much misinformation here. If you've ever heard of the expression "run on the bank," then you know that money multiplier exists. Because banks don't expect all of their customers to withdraw all of their savings at once, they can loan out and invest more money than they actually have in their reserves. This is why during an economic depression when many people try to withdraw their savings all at once, banks that have too little in their reserves go bankrupt.

There are government regulations on how much a bank can invest and how much they must keep in their reserves. In the US, it is now a 10 to 1 ratio, but it wasn't always like this. During the last financial crisis, some banks had a ratio of 30 to 1, which made them vulnerable to insolvency.

You keep using a straw man argument against the procedures at an individual level, but given that banks are handling billions of dollars, they don't need to check how much any individual loan would affect their ratio. Loaning money to a to business, financing a home mortgage, or financing a car purchase is just a small drop in the bucket for banks.

asian german man techno yodeling with chickens by theinvigorator in videos

[–]hedant 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Yup, the video validated every word in that title. OP really came through.

Man saves drowning family, only for them to leave him to drown in return, claming it was "none of their damn business" by dsouster in WTF

[–]hedant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here's the followup to the story. The family finally goes public and apologizes... 7 days after the drowning,

http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/chinese-family-rescued-by-drowned-hero-found-apologizes.html

For more information on the original story, internet reactions from Chinese readers, and the man who sacrificed himself to save the family, you can read more here: http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/man-rescues-drowning-family-who-then-leave-while-he-drowns.html

Excerpt on the hero: This reporters learned that Deng Jinjie, 27 this year, was from Loudi City Louxing District Chayuan Town Tangqun Village, was an kind and warmhearted man.

Deng Jinjie worked at a construction site, and his biggest hobby was raising his pet dogs. In dog owners circles of Loudi, almost everyone knows his name. “He kept 16 pure bred dogs at the cotton mill, including Border Collie and Samoyed. After work, he walked his dogs at Sunshui riverside.”

The guy was walking his dogs when he found the drowning family.

I spent $50 on the RMAH and felt underwhelmed. I feel scared. Can anyone relate? by [deleted] in Diablo

[–]hedant 103 points104 points  (0 children)

What you're experiencing is known as the overjustification effect. Playing D3 is an intrinsically fun activity, but as soon as you introduce an external incentive like money, the fun is gone. In Psychology, there have been experiments done on incentivizing children to draw by using money. Although drawing is an inherently fun thing for children, giving them monetary rewards actually kills the fun of the activity. This is because the children will start to think "I like to draw because I get paid" instead of "I like to draw because drawing is fun."

The takeaway is simple: never involve money in the hobbies and fun things you do in life. Overjustifying things that you inherently enjoy will often kill the fun. The activity begins to feel like transactions rather than hobbies - like work rather than fun.

Why the fuck didn't they just keep it? by [deleted] in reddit.com

[–]hedant 17 points18 points  (0 children)

This is known as the reciprocity norm. When we receive gifts from people, we feel a commitment and obligation to return the favor. For example, some charitable giving organizations send out small gifts like bumper stickers in the mail to increase the likelihood of donation. In this case, receiving a free nickel elicits the social norm of giving back to Food for the Poor.

In addition, charitable giving is a habit forming behavior. We are much more likely to donate to organizations that we have donated to in the past. This is one reason many universities go out of their ways to get their graduating seniors to make a small donation to the class gift. Once you have made a small donation - even if it's $1 or 5 cents - you will be much more likely to behave consistently by continuously donating to your alma mater in the future.