More popular are the ones more talked about

Just read this interesting article which says that people look for common grounds to talk rather than talking about the better things. This is in a way a reiteration of "Matthew Effect" (The rich get richer, the poor get poorer).

But this research being done in the social domain, could mean a lot about the way marketing is perceived. The gurus knew all along that it works, but to be proved that it does work is a different thing.

Understanding this concept can help a lot in marketing, especially on the web. If somehow one could get their product to be discussed on the "right" forums - it automatically starts generating traffic. If you pay a battery of people to discuss your product on twitter, and it features on the twitter search list, it is very likely that other people will start discussing it - as it will seem like the "IN" thing. Or if you can get your product discussed on slashdot or technorati, it is very likely that it will be discussed beyond that as well.

In fact this love for likeliness is seen in at the school and college level : A popular guy/girl is talked more about, and he/she gets more popular. If a group of 5 people start saying out loud that a certain dress is cool, the whole school gradually comes to accept the same as cool. So it can be used in adolescent marketing too. FMCG markets typically have a huge chunk of the demand coming from teens and just-left-teens . To be able to project the product as cool, they need to be able to make an impression at school, colleges, FaceBook, MySpace - and in all likelyhood, it will catch up.