In one of the WhatsApp groups I’m a member of, we have the habit of celebrating birthdays. As these birthday celebration groups often are, when naming the birthday person is the main thing that continues to happen, some birthdays are forgotten, then taken up again by someone noticing that it has been missed the day before, to then become mixed up with the other birthdays.

It becomes apparent that most of the people writing are reacting to the latest item in the list. Even those who looked beyond the last item can’t change the trend.

It’s the moment in time when the group switches from having a leader to being constituted of followers. It’s also when one person can’t easily turn the ship around. There are too many independent group members who act on their own without connection with the leader. Everyone can step up and be a leader for a moment, until the followers take over again.

Anyone who wants to transform such a group needs to find a way to generate attention that goes beyond pattern recognition. It needs to be the kind of attention that reengages the members of the group and allows them to feel the connection they look for.