Things I Researched: Social Media and Psychology

'My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better,' said Apple founder Steve Jobs at point in time to somebody who was definitely not me. Presumably this pithy point about the purpose of his metier didn’t account for the recent phone security quandary Apple have been having but it's still a great quote to sum up what their philosophy s'all aboout . Unfortunately my job as Social Media Guy is neither as influential not as well paid as Monsieur Jobs’ vocation but it has provided me with a decent opportunity to research into Cyberpsychology, which I did all afternoon.

Here's five things I learnt:

1) Selfies can be explained by our need to control how others perceive us.

The reason people share selfies relates to an unconscious desire to understand ourselves, and also to change how people perceive how we look. We take selfies to alter the way we look to others, usually getting the best angle possible to achieve a look that we consider our best. It's an attempt to define who we are and how we would like to be seen to the outside world. This looking-glass self then allows us to observe the results in the form of comments, likes and/or re-tweets

2) Around 30-40% of our everyday conversations are dedicated to talking about ourselves...

...but when we initiate conversation online this jumps to around 80%. The main reason is because we don’t need to factor in ‘intimate’ social cues like facial and vocal recognition. There's less need to 'read' others and (unless you're me) people will naturally act less self-consciously during conversation. We also talk much more about subjects we care about. Of course the best writers have known this for centuries, which is why they're also the best egotists.

3) 85% of people say that reading other people’s responses helps them understand the world. 

Our engagement in virtual communities such as social media sites, forums and comment sections creates a ‘shared reality’ that we use to understand things. This is based on our personal experiences but we also pay close attention to what others also say about theirs'. This helps explain the appeal of social media sites and shows how our experience of reality is never defined simply by ourselves but is built through collective knowledge.

4) Faces have a remarkable way of drawing our attention.

Pictures with faces naturally stand out. These images compel us not just to look at them, but also to observe the direction that the face is looking, as well as the expression. This is partly explained because we associate faces with trust and pleasure; established during infancy when we as babies we recognise our mother (or mother-figure) by the sight of her/his face.

5) How much we value a product (or service) is proportional to the number users engaging with it.

We're all liable to peer pressure and that's okay. A relatively new company can build a bigger user-base by attracting key figures who in turn use their influence to attract others by expressing positive views about the service. The more users involved; the more trust we put into the product. This is known as Metcalfe’s Law and explains why everybody and their dog uses Facebook.