# In an op-ed, Prof. Arun Sundararajan explains how social gifts change our choices

1 Faculty News December 21, 2012 ![WIRED logo](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/con_032348.jpg?itok=Wszefc-R)>

Excerpt from [WIRED](http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/12/digital-social-visibility-how-facebook-gifts-change-our-choices/) -- "Social influence always seemed to flow from the person who makes the choice, to the people who observe it. But digital visibility reverses the direction and creates a new form of anticipatory influence: What we do is now influenced by the peers who observe us."

[Read more](http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/12/digital-social-visibility-how-facebook-gifts-change-our-choices/)