The Psychology Behind Social Media: 4 Ways It Defines Our Start Up

As each new generation dives deeper and deeper into the technological melting pot that is the internet, some questions begin to bubble to the surface:

Why do we share? What’s the point? Where in our primal needs may we point to and blame for our compulsion to share selfies and whimsical thoughts?

With the explosion of social media, researchers have begun to explore the answers to such questions. Not surprisingly, many of the findings thus far seem…well, obvious. As sharers, we already have an intuitive understanding of why we like to share. Although we can’t pinpoint every subconscious motivation, we can begin to understand the larger, common reasons. We’ve gleaned some information from “The Psychology of Sharing”, a study conducted by the New York Times. Here are some findings that shed light on why we share and why it matters to us at Ripple:

69% share information because it allows them to feel more involved in the world.

Don’t you want your shouts to be heard and understood? We feel that existing social platforms help you share with your friends and followers, but limit your reach to just those people. By creating a society of Ripplers, we’re trying to give people the largest audience possible — the world. We’ve also found that removing the ties of a friend base takes you out of your echo-chamber and broadens your horizons. We want to show people just how involved they can be.

84% share to support causes or issues they care about.

We as a society are becoming more aware of the social injustices rooted in our culture. We link to news articles, type up paragraphs of sympathy and outrage, and create art to express what words cannot. We understand the need to raise awareness for social causes, and our content spreading algorithm introduces a new way to do that; ripples first travel to people nearest you. As people spread your messages to others, your content reaches people around the world with different cultures and belief systems. We’re empowering people to push their social issues to the forefront and hear different viewpoints.

85% say reading other people’s responses helps them understand and process information and events

A quick glance at the comments under a video or the responses under a Reddit post gives us valuable insight, regardless of whether we agree with the other viewpoints. Somehow the thoughts and emotions of others root themselves in our memory and let our understanding of a topic grow. Creating a community that gives feedback is a big goal for us because it not only lets people learn more from the ripples they see; it also filters for good content.

94% of people carefully consider if their posts will be well-received.

Before we post that tweet or status, we pause to make sure that some friends will agree. Before we link to that hilarious video, we stop and think if our friends will also find it funny. We decide what to post based on who we know will see it because deep down we care about being important to others. Even if all it means is showing them something new. When the world is the audience, the nature of posted content becomes something special.

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Just as the discoveries in the social psychology of sharing are developing and in flux, so are the discoveries here at Ripple. Every day we get valuable new information from our users: what they love to share, and why they love sharing it. For now, the message we want to spread is simple. We want you to express yourselves. To immerse yourselves in new scenery, cultures, and ideas. To explore your world.

Sources:
“The Psychology of Sharing” http://nytmarketing.whsites.net/mediakit/pos/

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