Social Proof(Social Proof)

The tendency to lean on the choices and evaluations of others when one’s own information is incomplete. Robert Cialdini codified it as one of six principles of persuasion in Influence (1984).

Review counts, customer logos, “X people are using this,” and bestseller badges are its everyday implementations. Whose proof matters, though: endorsements from a poorly matched audience can backfire. As AI-generated reviews proliferate, guaranteeing the authenticity of social proof has become a fresh design problem.