16 Core Observations of Social Design

1. Humans are complex social animals.
2. Technology doesn’t change us very fast.
3. Humans constantly search out ways to communicate more efficiently.
4. The primary use of the Internet is communication.
5. People play different roles in different parts of their life.
6. People tend to connect to those people they are similar to.
7. Who we are similar to depends upon our situation and goals.
8. Over-similarity can lead to group-think.
9. Unpredictable behavior emerges within groups over time.
10. People act differently in groups than they do individually.
11. The people we know greatly influence how we act.
12. People usually compare themselves to those in their social group, not society at large.
13. Humans aren’t always rational, but are usually self-interested.
14. When humans are uncertain, we rely on social connections to help us out.
15. We have biases that we aren’t conscious of.
16. Because life in not deterministic, we cannot always predict human behavior