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A Psychology Experiment: 20k views in <24 hours

August 2024

Spent 30 minutes building indiaincomecheck.in - type your income, get your percentile. 20k views in <24 hours. Hit top of r/DevelopersIndia.

The Mechanism: This is classic Kahneman bias in action. Indians have asymmetric information about income distribution - massive delta between perception and reality. This created a low-friction discovery mechanism for forbidden knowledge. Status anxiety + social proof = viral coefficient of >1.

Same reason anonymous platforms like Blind explode with TC discussions. Remove identity = remove social cost of bragging/complaining. Developers will overshare compensation data when there's zero reputational risk. Anonymity unlocks authentic behavior that social norms otherwise suppress.

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