Networks as Signalling Mechanism

Network membership is a powerful signal message. Users pay a membership fee to signal to other members that they are part of the tribe.

• Elite Singles is a dating app for “educated and successful, single professionals”. The $400 membership fee is your proof that you belong to that group.
• Facebook originally limited membership to Harvard students(and subsequently to other Ivy League schools).
• Paid membership communities have seen a lot of traction in the last few years.

In the book "The Elephant in the Brain" Robin Hanson & Kevin Simler state that:

1. Most of our everyday actions can be traced back to some form of signalling or status seeking
2. Our brains deliberately hide this fact from us and others (self deception)

T...