The mechanism behind Your Speed signs that changes behaviour in a flash with no punishment, and that Ronson says drives online shaming.
Jon Ronson's framework, from So You've Been Publicly Shamed, pp. 163 to 167.
Exhibit a behaviour
Drive at 27 mph in a 25 mph zone.
Get instant feedback
The sign shows your speed.
Decide whether to change
You slow to 25 mph.
Get feedback on the decision
The sign shows 25 mph, perhaps with a smiley face.
From chapter: 15. Your Speed, pp. 163–167
Ronson works out that Google made about $120,000 from Justine Sacco's destruction, while the people who piled on got nothing. He then explains why online shaming is so pitiless by way of Your Speed signs, which slow drivers by 14 per cent through feedback loops alone. On social media the same loops reward each person for condemning, trapping them in an echo chamber and making the age more conformist. He ends by saying we are defining normality by tearing apart the people outside it.
