And why exactly is FB such a big hit? What is the magic behind that irresistible urge for updating statuses?
Been thinking about it, and the only thing that comes to mind is - the Need for Attention, for Social Validation.
Uploading new photos, writing witty status messages, or commenting - everything finally leads to the child in our heart that desires attention. FB is such a fantastic tool to study psychology, really! Researchers, anyone??
Sunday, January 03, 2010
The Psychology of FB Updates
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I think updating status has different meaning at different times and is different with different people
- Need for attention. Yes.
- Need for social validation. Yes.
- Give a bit - encourage to give other bits. Vital social function of "gossip". Exchange as unit of enomics and society we know. I got a invitation to tweet from a fantastic Indonesian guy I knew in college. He was in Indonesia and sent tweet " I am at mall" - what was I going to do with it. I am not tweeting kind. But to other person I guess it meant I have some time lets chat.
- It can be very innocent and simple as sharing ones happiness. Got married, engaged, parent, thrilling adventure. Simple act of sharing a joy. Lot of them have complicated social nuances but some of them are simple expressions of distributing a smile.
- I haven't seen one but I guess it won't be long enough when people status updates migh read "dead", "widower-widow", "fired" whose goal is also trying to get sympathy from others.
- For me I use only linked in and want to keep it updated for business needs which includes presenting professional and skill based profile to recruiters lurking on social networking sites. In future it can be potential clients and business prospects.
I don't want to be on Facebook and I encourage wife not to use it much. Then one day I found that my cousins ( most of them are older than me) and even my dad is on Facebook - using it vigorously and wanting connect with people trying to provide a small window in their world in hope they will get windows in somebody else's world.
That is why marketers have discovered a paradise in social networking sites.
Non-web world example - Publishing besna classifieds for dead kins ion newspapers. I think tyring to understand relevance of this kind of activity will be a great aid in understanding the "status updates" urge.
By the way, what does FB expand upto ?
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