science

Social currency

Social currency is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Social currency rather than just read about it. In short: Social currency refers to the actual and potential resources from presence in social networks and communities, including both digital and offline. It is, in essence, an action made by a company or stance of being, to which consumers feel a sense of value when associating with a brand, while the humanization of the brand generates loyalty and "word of mouth" virality for the organization.

Key takeaways

Social currency belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Social currency to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Social currency from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Social currency refers to the actual and potential resources from presence in social networks and communities, including both digital and offline. It is, in essence, an action made by a company or stance of being, to which consumers feel a sense of value when associating with a brand, while the humanization of the brand generates loyalty and "word of mouth" virality for the organization. The concept derives from Pierre Bourdieu's social capital theory and relates to increasing one's sense of community, granting access to information and knowledge, helping to form one's identity, and providing status and recognition.

In marketing and management In their study on social currency, the consulting company Vivaldi Partners defined social currency as the extent to which people share the brand or information about the brand as part of their everyday social lives at work or at home. This sharing helps companies to create unique brand identities and earn permission to interact with consumers or customers. In today's age, building social currency is an important investment companies can make to create value for themselves. Social Currency moves social initiatives and campaigns beyond marketing and communications efforts to impacting and changing entire industries and categories. Consumers and customers will benefit as well as they increasingly participate in social platforms, and use social technologies. Social currency can be divided into six dimensions or levers: affiliation, conversation, utility, advocacy, information, and identity. The Social Currency Wheel (pictured below) is an alternative to the traditional brand funnel or customer decision journey. The Social Currency Wheel evaluates the impact of social behaviors of customers on social currency and three outcomes: consideration, purchase, and loyalty. The goal of the Social Currency Wheel is to explain how customers' social processes and behaviors drive each of the conversions. Marketers can engage with customers during these social processes and behaviors, and influence the outcomes.

This model is about creating a sense of community and by that a strong affiliation between customers, consumers and users of a brand. Having social currency increases a brand's engagement with consumers and interaction with customers, and by that adding to the customer conversation around the brand, it grants access to information and knowledge, which is being shared within the customer base. Belonging to a group also helps users of a brand to grow personally by accessing new utility and also developing their own identity in the respective peer group. A strong attachment to a brand will also be a core driver for an active advocacy recommending or even defending the brand. Social currency is information shared which encourages further social encounters. It can be a factor in establishing fans of sports or television programmes. As well as talking about sports, attendance at sports events themselves is a form of social currency. Young men in particular feel the need to learn about sporting current events in order to facilitate social interaction. However, these types of fan can easily move to a new sport, team, or programme in the future if the new one offers more social currency. Women may use jewellery and clothes as part of their social currency, providing a way into communication. Proper social currency tactics includes responding to comments, sharing posts to groups and forums, and strategic posting time and placement.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Social currency

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Social currency claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Social currency before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Social currency ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Social currency

In research: Social currency appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Social currency in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Social currency is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Reputation management, Social systems, Sociological terminology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Social currency outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Social currency” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Social currency in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Social currency means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Social currency out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Social currency in simple terms?

Why does Social currency matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Social currency?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Social currency.