Hands Across the Sand http://bit.ly/iLvFVk
Gordon Clay here. It's called Bridge Jumping. And it's been around for hundreds of years - 1664. It took place off the Stari Most in Mostar, Bosnia. Every year on May 1, Oxford scholars gather on the Magdalena Bridge to jump into the Cherwell River. And NOT with a bungy cord attached.
However, with the advent of YouTube, bridge jumping has reached trend status as teens film themselves diving from increasingly dangerous heights, posting the heart-stopping videos to YouTube. 'Good Morning America' chronicled the extremely dangerous form of online one-upmanship. Footage shows thrill-seeking teens jumping from bridges and cliffs. "They are incredible jumps from outrageous heights, teens taking death-defying dives, even back-flipping off bridges. All documented and posted to YouTube, creating intense viral peer pressure," said one observer.
"It's primarily just all about feeling a bit of freedom for that moment," explains another. But chasing that rush can be fatal. Nineteen-year-old Wade McCurdy died after taking a 65-foot plunge off a bridge. Another teen heard the wake-up call when she hit the water so hard, the blood vessels in her legs were instantly broken. And a third, a very disturbing video of a young man who's face literally splits in half.
Include piece on Hands Across the Sands
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Kids face literally splits in half after diving goes ... yes crappy cell cam but you can still see his face split and doctors helping him out .... why didn't he just move a few yards down the bridge where there
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=128807481
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A young man gets brought in to the ER after a diving attempt goes horribly wrong and gets his face Split open on a walkway below. Poor kid, it's amazing that he's still alive! WARNING: Disturbing & Graphic.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1f3_1247966779
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This is NOT Bridge Jumping. This is Base Jumping. Even then, 71% of all Bridge Day landings are safely made on shore while 28% land in the water? The remaining 1% is reserved for unfortunate jumpers who opted for the railroad tracks, trees, etc..
Bridge Day, held on the third Saturday in October every year in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is the largest extreme sports event and largest gathering of BASE jumpers in the world. More than 450 BASE jumpers from 10+ countries and 40+ US states will leap from the 876' tall New River Gorge bridge, hundreds of rappellers will descend on fixed ropes, and up to 200,000 spectators are expected to attend this year's Bridge Day on Saturday, October 15, 2011 from 9am-3pm EDT. BASE jumper registration begins on July 1, 2011 at 2pm EDT via our web store. For those with no parachuting experience, but a desire to make a BASE jump at Bridge Day, please check out our Tandem BASE Jumping information page..
http://www.bridgeday.info/
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End of high jinx: Oxford scholars beat bridge-jumping ban... by lowering themselves into the river for a risk-free paddle
Leaping from a bridge at dawn has been the way for students at Oxford University to see in the summer for decades.
But when college officials outlawed the age-old May Day tradition amid safety fears, young scholars thought the game was up.
These enterprising young academics, however, found a way around the ban... by gingerly lowering themselves into the cold water for a risk-free paddle.
Double barriers and private security ensured there were no risky leaps from the Magdalen Bridge into Oxford's River Cherwell.
So determined not to let the ban ruin their fun, the daring team of five stripped down to their smalls before taking a dip from the river bank instead.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382457/Oxford-scholars-beat-bridge-jumping-ban--lowering-river-risk-free-paddle.html
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The short version: Because if the popular kids did it, you probably would too. And you just might even like it.
Long answer: The social proof principle.
Over the past 2 years of really looking at 2 things: human psychology and Internet Marketing, social proof has been at the height of both. From the positive aspects to the highly sketchy techniques. And I’ve seen both, used both and tested both in many marketing campaigns. In this 3 part series I am going to look at 3 aspects of social proof and do my best to explain why the psychology of your parents teachings isn’t half bad (or at least not wrong).
•Part 1: What is social proof and why does it matter?
•Part 2: Borrowing social proof vs. actual social proof.
•Part 3: How to get social proof quickly
Let’s begin and start to get twisted into some psychology…
What Is Social Proof?
Perhaps the first big business to utilize social proof in a highly profitable way (and somehow it still works today) is the “As Seen On TV” products. In fact they’ve made a whole business out of infomercials and products that have been seen on tv. But aren’t pretty much all products seen on tv now? I think it would be really ironic if there was a “as seen online” social proof element that comes into play.
Anyway, what makes this marketing strategy powerful is that people can relate to it, they can piece it into their minds as something that is familiar, that others have also seen and thus makes it socially acceptable for them to be interested in the products.
Mass Control Psychology
The concept was really ingrained into my head in Frank Kern’s Mass Control. Essentially in order to get mass control, you need to make it seem like that masses are already flooding you with whatever shower of appreciation makes you look awesome.
For Frank Kern it was his massive launches that preceded Mass Control. The big launch numbers from Stompernet, Pipeline Profits, The Annihilation Method and his Underachiever Series. Those combined launches did something like $23.8 million or something ridiculous, so his implied social proof was that if you learned his marketing secrets you too could make money like that.
Social proof also came into play by using things like shock and awe testimonials, videos that showed how he did it, getting affiliates to vouch for the course, going through case studies and then using “cool” tactics in his email marketing like:
I am only selling 500 of these and there are 1 gagillion people on my email list (the implicit thing here is that there are a gagiliion other people like you on the list, so you are not alone in wanting this cool stuff)
After going through Mass Control, I started to learn more about social proof and was drawn to the book “Persuasion: The Psychology of Influence” by Robert Cialdini. The book is the most dry, boring read on the planet, but if instead of reading it, you study it, takes notes and apply what he is saying, it may be the most effective book on selling and marketing ever written.
Cialdini’s Social Proof
This book was written 1984 at a time before high pressure sales letters and marketing videos that don’t have play controls on them (beyond irritating), and before the Internet, but not before Direct Response Marketing made people uber-rich. But it does factor in that people are highly influenced by the actions of others.
He starts by talking about canned laughter, possibly best described as the sign in the studio audience that Jay Leno has light up whenever he snaps off another bad joke and needs a quick laugh from the studio audience to make said joke appear to be funny to the audience watching at home
The thing that Cialdidni points out that is simply amazing to the marketing eye is that even though people have told tv studios how much they hate canned laughter, it still works. It still causes those same people that know it is “fake” laughter to chuckle, smile or laugh. Kinda like how we know reality shows are not reality, but we relate and obsess to them anyway.
Here is Cialdini’s definition of social proof:
[O]ne means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct…We view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it.
So using Cialdini’s concept, if our friends jump off this mythical bridge, we see it as an acceptable behavior. If others are speeding on the highway, then hell, I’m going to speed on the highway. And if you have some crappy, worthless testimonials on your site from the same people that leave testimonials on every site, then I am going to yet again buy another info product I don’t need and just like everyone else, not read it/watch it/take action!
We sure do like to conform to the behaviors around us.
If you are downtown with a group of friends, passing some bars looking for a drink, are you going to go into the bar that is empty with the promoters outside begging you to come in and get a free fruity shot of Juicy Juice, or the one with the fresh music and the people that are like you?
Do you want to be the only fan at a concert, or do you want to be in a sea of other fanatical people?
Non Conformists / Lifestyle Designers / Internet Cool Kids
Two years ago it was cool to be a nonconformist, or a rebel or a 9-5 hater. Now it’s the norm. People expect it.
“Rebel against the system, yo.” I hear people screaming it all the time. That part is easy and the part that has social proof written all over it.
It’s easy to start a blog and start talking like everyone else. The topics, the comments, the way to grow your audience, the way to build subscribers, or a tribe, or a community, use buzz words, whatever.
The element here is that we all wanted to be like the guy the Internet Lifestyle promises to be - on the beach, maxing and relaxing, checking emails for sales and talking to our VA that runs our million dollar empire from a hut in an impoverished country that we feel awesome about paying her $5/hr.
And we all buy into it. We all buy stuff from long sales letters, even if we hate them and we all fall subject to wanting to know what the secret to this internet lifestyle is. If there was only the 1 tactic I needed to know so that I can have a lifestyle like “insert name of supposed cool dude here.”
Anyway, it’s just social proof in action. Following a crowd.
But social proof can be used for good, and it can be used in sales situations where you want to infleunce others who:
•Can afford your product
•Have a use for your product
•Can benefit from your product
•And the damn thing is actually valuable
But today, let’s leave off with some gut-checking: when have you followed the crowd and done something, either consciounciously or unconsciounsly and fallen victim to good old social proof tactics?
http://www.rockstarlifestyledesign.com/social-proof/
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Crazy Bridge Jumping in England
Crazy Bridge Jumping in England
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 May 2010 )
Views 3746
Every year on May 1 people gather on the Magdalena Bridge in Oxford to jump into the water of Cherwell River.
http://www.funzug.com/index.php/unusual-things/crazy-bridge-jumping-in-england.html
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Traditional jumps in Mostar 2004.
Last week of July the famous "Stari Most" bridge in Mostar (Bosnia Herzegovina)was re-opened after its destruction during the Balkan war, attracting international participation and recognition. At Saturday, 31st of July this bridge was the location of the traditional bridge jumping, which has been taking place in this town for 438 consecutive years. At the "Ikari 2004", 75 participants from Mostar and all other states of former Yugoslavia - including three veterans of more than 70 years of age - jumped off the 22 meters bridge which had been reconstructed just like the original. Ahead of 30.000 spectators the winner became one of the favourites Haris Dzemat (29). For the first time in the history, three professional cliff divers also jumped off the bridge (out of competition). World Champion Orlando Duque from Colombia, Australian Joe Zuber and Zvezdan Groscic from Serbia were the attractions.
http://www.ipak.org/staff/
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How high is too high? It's more than that.
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Mostar bridge jumping
Stari Most (English translation: "The Old Bridge") is a 16th century bridge in the city of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina that crosses the river Neretva and connects two parts of the city. The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until the bridge was destroyed on November 9, 1993 during the Bosnian War. Slobodan Praljak, the commander of the Croatian Defence Council, is currently on trial at the ICTY for ordering the destruction of the bridge, among other charges. Consequently, a project was set in motion to rebuild it, and the new bridge opened on July 23, 2004.
It is traditional for the young men of the town to leap from the bridge into the Neretva. As the Neretva is very cold, this is a very risky feat and only the most skilled and best trained divers will attempt it. The practice dates back to the time the bridge was built, but the first recorded instance of someone diving off the bridge is from 1664. In 1968 a formal diving competition was inaugurated and held every summer. The first person to jump from the bridge since it was re-opened was Enej Kelecija, a local who now resides in the United States
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25805224@N03/3800994878/