The Bandwagon Effect: Why People Tend to Follow the Crowd

It serves as a mental shortcut that people instinctively use in order to make a decision quickly.

Specifically, bandwagon cues, which are signs that other people believe something or are doing something, can trigger the thought that “if other people like this, then I should too”.

• Slow down your reasoning process. Let some time pass between the point at which you encounter social cues and the point at which you make a final decision on something.
• Set up optimal conditions for decision making. Choose to only make a certain decision when you’re by yourself.
• Consider alternative options. Think about alternative options that you can choose beyond the one that is adopted by the majority.

For example, you could choose to openly display social proof or bandwagon cues, in order to signal to other people that there is support for whatever it is you are promoting. 

Video-sharing sites demonstrate the benefits of displaying these cues, since people often use popularity cues such as the number of views that a video has in order to decide whether to watch it or not.