How social proof worked on me - by Joe Hovde
I downloaded a new app, Open, the other day. It guides you in breathing exercises, to relax or focus or get energized. I saw this tweet and it was a compelling enough endorsement that I signed up for a free trial and have done a couple of sessions using it.
It is very rare for me to download a new app and actually be excited about it these days; mostly I download a new app when I’m forced to by a ticket company or an airline. And I often hear about how consumer apps have become very difficult to scale because people have become so resistant to try new apps. So, I wanted to reflect on the factors that caused me to give it a shot.
As I thought about it, I was struck by how far back the chain of factors went and how important word-of-mouth was in each step.
First, I was primed to have some affinity for breathwork because I read the book Breath in 2021. It’s one of those fun nonfiction books that makes you believe that its subject is The Answer to Everything while you are reading it. And looking back, it was a similar social endorsement that led me to read it!
