Costly or contested behaviours spread only with reinforcement from several contacts, unlike simple information.
Centola's experiments found health behaviours needed several independent contacts to spread, unlike news, which needs one. It means the network structure that spreads information fails at spreading practice.
In practice
- A safety procedure spreads through a plant only when four separate colleagues are seen using it, not when the poster goes up.
- A payment app is downloaded because a friend mentions it; it is actually used because three friends already are.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Networks & Collective Behavior
- Essay
- How connections shape what crowds do