Bandwagon effect
Overview
The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon where the more people support an option, the more people go on to support it. A "bandwagon" is the wagon carrying the band at the front of a parade, and the term comes from the English expression "jump on the bandwagon," meaning to side with the winner.
It's closely related to social proof but slightly different. Social proof is an information-processing mechanism of "using other people's behavior as a clue for judgment," while the bandwagon effect focuses on how "the desire to belong to the majority" drives behavior.
Question boxes and the bandwagon effect
The bandwagon effect tends to show up in question boxes when a particular question or answer goes viral. When an answer gets reposted a lot, the number of people thinking "I'll try asking this person something too" can go up. In that case, it's the amount of attention, not the quality of the answer, that's drawing questions.
On the flip side, a question box with few questions has a hard time attracting more. The thought "if no one's asking anything, it's embarrassing to be the first" kicks in. This is the bandwagon effect in reverse. It's one of the reasons people who've just opened a question box struggle to get their first question.
Putting the bandwagon effect to use
The bandwagon effect can be a tool for manipulation, but there are also healthy ways to use it. When running a question box, regularly share fun past Q&As to create the impression that "this question box is active." That makes it easier for new senders to join in.
However, padding your question count by sending questions to yourself can backfire. The loss of trust when you're found out outweighs any benefit you'd get from the bandwagon effect. The ideal is to compete on the quality of real questions and answers, and let the bandwagon effect arise naturally as a result.
A game where this term appears: Stop the Rumor