Crunch by Nuffnang: Issue 2

The oxytocin in our brains on the other hand, is
the “cuddle chemical” that is responsible for the
feeling of trust in social media users. Did you
know that 43% of Facebook users are more likely
than other internet users to feel that people can
be trusted?
Photo Credits to our Churp
Churp Alpha @prestonles
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Is this situation familiar to you? You go to work
and spend 8 hours on a laptop, go home, kick off
your shoes, take a shower and then face another
device yet again. In our fast-paced and quickchanging
times, it is almost impossible to detox
from social media. We always need to keep up
with the why, the what and the how of the day or
the week. Why do we do that?
When we think about the likes, the shares and
the comments on pictures, they might come
off as inconsequential but they actually matter.
WHY? Because they are every element that
make us human- they spell our addictions, our
desires, our anxiety and our joy. All put together,
they are essentially made up of two very basic
neurochemicals in our brains, namely dopamine
and oxytocin.
Dopamine creates the “WANT” reflex; desires
which seek unpredictability and reward cues in
us. Research actually found that people found
it harder to resist tweeting than smoking! WOW.
UPDATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
So why do people update their social media about
themselves so very often?
One of the more prominent ways we portray
ourselves is through things and they have to
signify who we are. That would then create the
intensity of how some people would feel for their
favourite brands. Some research done in the past
found that social media users have the same
amount of psychological arousal to logos shown
to them as to when they were shown a picture of
a loved one or best friend.
IF YOU LIKE TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF,
WHY SHARE A BRAND?
Many of us are unaware that we are hardwired
to pass information around. Did you also know
that 68% of people share the brands and things
they love with people around them because it
helps others perceive them and what they care
for better? People share with others because
they want to self-define, have self-fulfillment and
to share the “causes”that they believe in. Hence,
when creating content on social media about a
product, it doesn’t have to cater to the masses
but only to specific people.
While it is quite normal that your brand(s) would
want product awareness to reach the masses, try
consider targeting a certain age group, gender or
even race that you would want to reach. Doing so
will allow for the correct audience to react to your
brand presence instead of an audience that your
product does not cater to.
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