When it comes to the things we like, the activities we do, the products we buy and the places we go, we turn to our friends to help us decide. The people around us are our workaround solution to the increasing amount of choice, and the increasing amount of available information, in our world.

Smart businesses are re-orienting themselves around people, their friends, and their network. But in order to do so successfully, they’ll need a deep understanding of how our social lives are structured offline as well as online. How we have different relationships with different people. How we act differently depending on our motivation for communication. How we trust some people more than others.

In this talk, you will hear stories that illustrate the social patterns in our lives, and how businesses can use that knowledge to build new products, market themselves in more relevant ways, and create experiences that people value. Paul will share stories about how people we are close to, and people we’ve never met, may or may not influence us, and explain how norms learned from people’s local culture impact how much they can be influenced. His goal is for you to walk away with concrete ideas about building great products built around social behavior.