In the recent past I read "The Art of Thinking Clearly" written by a famous swiss author and entrepreneur ROLF DOBELLI.  The way he put forth his  accreditation of social proof  is quite convincing. And, I have taken the liberty to reproduce many words  from the translated version.    

Social proof dictates that individuals feel they are behaving correctly when they act the same as other people. In other words ,the more people who follow a certain idea, the truer we deem the idea to be. And, the more people who behave the alike the more appropriate is judged to be by others. This is obvious absurdity and to put it in a catchy one liner comprising wise words of the great english novelist & short story writer W. Somerset Maugham "If 50 million people say something foolish, it is still foolish !" 

The author illustrates his point of view by way of putting some very common things we always do.  He starts," You are on your way to a concert.. At an intersection, you encounter a group of people , all staring at the sky. Without thinking about it, you peer upwards, too."  

 Social proof is the evil behind bubbles and stock market panic. It exists in fashion, management techniques, hobbies, religion and diets. And, almost all so-called healing and wellness centres do exploit this doctrine of social proof. Right now, me , too, in a renowned centre well publicised as the science of drugless healing, is experiencing exactly the same herd instinct. 

The worst is made happen  when sects commit collective suicide. Why do we act like this ? In the past , undoubtedly following others was a good survival strategy. But, the past is after all the past now and certainly not going to work the same way in the present.

But, we are the direct descendants of those who copied the others' behaviour and still at many places  the alike is being taught, too. But, today, most of the time , social proof offers no survival advantage and hence it is a weakness on our part. Of course, there are a few cases where it is of value. For example, when we happen to be in a new city or town and don't know a good restaurant. it makes sense to pick the one that is full of people and it is this way we copy the others behaviour.

All crowd shows exploit this social proof. One or two start clapping and almost all do the same. It so happens in Indian political brigade type crowds where people behave as if they are "YES MEN" only. They roar supporting the speaker, whoever he or she may be . But, if the attendees had been asked individually and anonymously , it is likely that nobody would have liked what the speaker delivered as his or her speech. 

And , for this reason, the poll turns out otherwise. Sometimes so-called  exit polls also prove wrong simply because the element of individuality as also anonymity is not followed to the desired level or the team conducting the same is so pre-conceived that they intentionally avoid the basics of individuality or anonymity.          

Likewise, the advertising industry benefits greatly from our weakness for social proof. This works well when a situation is unclear such as deciding among various car makes , cleaning products, beauty products etc. with no obvious advantages or disadvantages. and where people "like you and me " appear. 

So, finally, let us name it "Parable of the social proof" that preaches us to be sceptical whenever a company claims its product is better because 'it is the most popular'. How is a product better simply because it sells the most units ?