Social Media and Psychology

Why do people share?

s ocial media usage has grown to become one of

the most pervasive cultural phenomena
America. According to a survey by the Pew Research
in Why do people share things on social media that
they might not share face-to-face? Why do people

Group, in 2012 more than two-thirds of Internet care about others’ social media presence? In what

users studied participated in a social networking ways do people manifest their own identities using

site, with most focused on Facebook, Twitter, social networks?

Pinterest, Instagram,
The phenomenon that altered
and Tumblr. Not
the relationship we have with
engaging in social
others and ourselves. As
media, for many
someone who has pretty much
businesses, can be a
grown up with using Facebook,
death sentence—
Instagram, and twitter, I
especially now that it
became recently curious not
has become so
just in the human psyche in
ubiquitous in the
general, but also in the effects
business world. As of
that social media has on the
2014, a Social Media
human mind, the conscious and unconscious. Once I
Examiner study found that 92% of marketers
became overly aware of the negative impact of social
thought social media was important to their
media, having lived through with it. I started
business.
noticing patterns in others everywhere. And this
curiosity was fueled by observing people’s behavior
online.
Engaging, however, requires a keen grasp of the
whys. Simply knowing how to write an eye-catching
headline or throw out a set of GIFs on Tumblr isn’t
enough. To really get into the mindset necessary to
succeed on social media, marketers, and salespeople
have to understand the reasons behind every step
of the process.

Factors why we always share everything online.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND PSYCHOLOGY
 Self-Expression: Playing the Song
of Your People
Relationships: Finding Friends of
Friends
For 68% of respondents, sharing is about showing other
people what they care about and who they are, whether
No discussion of social media would be complete it’s to their followers, their friends, or the world at large.
without a least touching on the fact that it is called social Sharing content becomes a
for a reason. 78% of the NYT survey respondents indicated performative act—one in
that they shared information to stay in contact with people which the primary focus is
who they otherwise might lose track of, or who would slip self-description. “This is
out of their lives. me,” the sharer says as he
or she blogs a set of clips
To see this principle in action, one from Captain America.
needs looks no further than “This is me,” the sharer
Facebook. Individuals often add says as he or she retweets
people to their friend’s lists who, a comment from an infamous politician regarding the
under normal circumstances, they economy. For these social media consumers, the goal is first
wouldn’t consider much more than and foremost self-definition.
casual acquaintances. People will often maintain Facebook
friendships long after moving away from a region, staying This core of sharing is particularly attractive for creative
in touch with those they can no longer simply see face-to- outlets like Tumblr and Pinterest, as well as on platforms
face in a casual setting. By sharing things that will like Twitter and Vine that be engaged with an almost
potentially get these friends engaged, people can keep those stream-of-consciousness manner. People with the creativity
friends’ attention and feeling of friendship long after they to generate art and fiction often use
stop seeing them regularly. social media this way, showing off the
things they value through their work.
Although this doesn’t have as many direction applications Even easier, however, is offering one’s
for marketers are some of the other impulses, it can serve own thoughts on current issues or
as an important reminder that each customer’s reach is products through a tweet. Something as
just a little bigger than markets might expect. These simple as “I like Starbucks” can fulfill
connections can, in turn, bring a message into an unexpected that urge to say, “Hey—this is what I’m
segment of the population. Every share matters and the about.
ones that matter most might not be the ones that look
like they would on paper.

Entertainment and Action: The
Core of Virality
The least common motivator of the core
set, entertainment, and product passion motivates
about 49% of shares according to the NYT study.
People share information on the brands, products,
and activities they enjoy either to get more friends
to enjoy the same things, or to affirm a specific
identity among friends who they already know care
about the same things.
This motivator explains
phenomena like
mirroring of videos on
YouTube, or
sharing of viral videos.
People like to do simple, enjoyable things on social
media, and there’s nothing more enjoyable than doing
something one already knows is enjoyable and then
sharing the experience. Users who are interested in a
company’s products in the first place, before
marketing or advertising campaigns, often share for
this reason, and typically form the backbone of any
viral campaign. Without this core of initial followers
to get the engine started, most such campaigns will
fizzle out before they ever get going.
Sharing Feels Good: Staying
Positive
We have discussed the importance of positivity in
business from many angles, but it always bears nothing in
these discussions that in social settings, things that bleed
shouldn’t lead. While outrage on the Internet can keep
people engaged in modest doses, negativity is exhausting.
Some of it, of course, is that people are often just looking
to have a good time on social media, but the true reason
for the rapid spread of positivity through social networks
has to do with socialness, at least according to one
researcher.
A social psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr.
Jonah Berger, argues that bad news and shocking situations
the work for broadcast media, where eyes are only on the goal.
But social works different. He says that in social media,
the the reaction is what matters more than anything else.
Those using social media don’t want their friends to see
them as depressing or angry or tedious, and accordingly,
the things they tend to share are happier and lighter.
By looking at the share
rates of various articles on
the New York Times
website and controlling for
factors like page positioning
and article size, Dr. Berger
and his colleagues discovered
that the most popular articles had a few traits in common.
More often than not, the articles saw proportionally higher
share rates inspired excitement, laughter, or awe. Topics
like science or feel-good stories about New York City earned
significantly more attention than deaths or catastrophes.
 Social Quizzing: A Way to Share the Self

One form of social media sharing that has taken

off in recent years (though the practice dates back before
the rise of Facebook and Twitter) is quizzes. The sorts of
quizzes people post to social media sometimes have to do
with expertise, but more often have to do with personality.
These quizzes usually pose a series of questions about how
the user might react to certain situations, or what the
user’s favorite colors are, providing a list of options to
choose from. At the end, the user receives some
information in return—usually which character from a
popular piece of media those answers most resemble

Social media quizzes key into the desire to show off one’s
identity on social media. Some users even try to game the
system a little, answering in the way in which they expert
their favorite character would, or even changing a couple
answers after the first attempt to see if they get a more
palatable result. People want to put their most desirable
face forward on social media, and often share only if they
get a satisfying result.

Quizzes can play a lot of roles in the

social media package with careful use.
They extend a site’s reach, certainly,
if they are engaging enough to share.
But more than that—they can help
build a brand and build
a relationship with that brand in a
customer’s head. By thinking about
themselves in relation to the
characters and symbols that a
business represents, customers can move to put that brand
nearer to their heart and build their own identity using it.

SOURCES:
https://buffer.com/resources/psychology-of-social-media:

https://blog.usejournal.com/the-psychology-of-social-media-
why-we-feel-the-need-to-share-18c7d2d1236