Information Cascades in Movie Marketing
Subjective art forms and media constitute an interesting network in which there is (typically) no concrete signal to attribute quality to; People generally have different perceptions/tastes so they will give and receive mixed signals. According to research conducted at UPenn, this may create dichotomous information cascades: people may follow the actions of the crowd/general public or those of their friends.
Evaluating the behavioral construct behind this phenomenon reveals that information cascades (and herding conduct) occurs more strongly among friends because there is identity-affirming feedback. This may be explained by the principles of strong triadic closures: members with strong ties are more likely to encounter the same news and form similar opinions. In turn, this creates similar personalities and values between the two people. These similarities leverage the opinion of friends, since there is a higher likelihood that the user will experience the same, reported level of satisfaction.
Given this information, film marketing may experience greater success and revenue if they take the strength of interpersonal networks into account. Movie advertisements may continue to target a general audience, but social media tactics focus on usurping conversation between friends. This increases exposure and the likelihood of being reported as a higher quality product. If maneuvered appropriately, an ad may be able to persuade one member of the friend group. This provides an upper-hand to the media since recommendations from friends almost always induces a herding effect––people will copy the behavior of those closest to them, and consume similar media.