Social hacking is where you know what people expect and deliberately give them something different. Magicians use social hacking all the time and call it sleight-of-hand and misdirection. Personally I like social hacking because when a person is confronted with something unexpected you can get a glimpse of his true self for a second. In fact it often works best on those with the most carefully crafted facades. When their masks drop they drop completely and you get a peek at what they are really like.
For example, sometimes I say "Good morning!" in the afternoon and evening. If the person I'm talking to says "it's not morning" I can explain that it depends on what shift you work - at 3pm it is midnight for third shift workers. That's just a cover though, what I'm really after is that initial reaction.
One good social hack society has given us lately is the habit of saying "How ya doing?" as a greeting. Most people never listen for a reply, so it can be... enlightening, let us say... to give them an unexpected one. I have two stock answers. The first is "Terrible, just terrible, thanks." When they ask why, I say, "Actually I'm doing fine. But everyone says fine when you ask how they are doing. That's far too normal for me." The second stock answer is, "I'm doing crazy, thanks. But I seem to be the happy kind, so I'm having fun with it." The second one I do more for a quick laugh than to gain information about a person.
PLEASE NOTE: Social hacking is useful, but one should not make a habit of it. If I said the same thing every time people would quickly tire of it - much as some of you are probably tired of me posting xkcd cartoons in lieu of a response
(although they just fit so well, and they say it a lot better than I could...) If one pops off social hack responses all the time he quickly becomes a bore, or worse, a smart alec.
But their usefulness shouldn't be underestimated. A local diner has a box on the register counter with a big sign on the top, "Open in case of fire." Open the box and you are greeted with the words, "I said in case of fire, stupid!" I thought it was mildly amusing. Not anything worth writing home about (although apparently it is worth typing about on a forum, because I just did) but worth a chuckle. The owner happened to be there at the time and he said you wouldn't believe the responses he has gotten from different people. Some were disgusted, some laughed fit to kill, some got upset about it.
So, what about y'all? Any social hacks you employ? What kind of responses do you get?
For example, sometimes I say "Good morning!" in the afternoon and evening. If the person I'm talking to says "it's not morning" I can explain that it depends on what shift you work - at 3pm it is midnight for third shift workers. That's just a cover though, what I'm really after is that initial reaction.
One good social hack society has given us lately is the habit of saying "How ya doing?" as a greeting. Most people never listen for a reply, so it can be... enlightening, let us say... to give them an unexpected one. I have two stock answers. The first is "Terrible, just terrible, thanks." When they ask why, I say, "Actually I'm doing fine. But everyone says fine when you ask how they are doing. That's far too normal for me." The second stock answer is, "I'm doing crazy, thanks. But I seem to be the happy kind, so I'm having fun with it." The second one I do more for a quick laugh than to gain information about a person.
PLEASE NOTE: Social hacking is useful, but one should not make a habit of it. If I said the same thing every time people would quickly tire of it - much as some of you are probably tired of me posting xkcd cartoons in lieu of a response
(although they just fit so well, and they say it a lot better than I could...) If one pops off social hack responses all the time he quickly becomes a bore, or worse, a smart alec. But their usefulness shouldn't be underestimated. A local diner has a box on the register counter with a big sign on the top, "Open in case of fire." Open the box and you are greeted with the words, "I said in case of fire, stupid!" I thought it was mildly amusing. Not anything worth writing home about (although apparently it is worth typing about on a forum, because I just did) but worth a chuckle. The owner happened to be there at the time and he said you wouldn't believe the responses he has gotten from different people. Some were disgusted, some laughed fit to kill, some got upset about it.
So, what about y'all? Any social hacks you employ? What kind of responses do you get?
