In today’s digital era, no person can do without social media, and it has become a vital part of everyone’s lives. People spend lots of hours liking posts, scrolling through feeds, commenting on different topics, and, not to forget, sharing content. However, psychology plays a vital role in motivating people to get involved in these activities.
The psychology of liking, commenting, and sharing on social media is deeply rooted in some basic human requirements of social validation, dopamine-driven pleasure, and belonging. Everyone loves social feedback, as it offers a unique feeling of reward. When you share, it stems from your ardent wish to reflect the interests, emotions, and identity of a person.
Comments require one to put in more cognitive effort compared to likes whereas shares suggest content value. All these forms of engagement help in the visibility of content and develop relationships.
How do the brain and dopamine work?
Your brain and dopamine contribute a lot when you like, share, and comment. Let’s explore all of them:
Craving for dopamine – If a person suffers from an escalation of dopamine, he gets encouraged to engage with a social media platform like Instagram. Thus, it forms a cycle of getting optimistic reinforcement.
Reward system – Users love to get positive feedback on their posts, like shares, comments, or likes. When they get these things, their brain releases dopamine, and it is acknowledged as a neurotransmitter that is connected with either reward or pleasure.
Some emotional and social drivers
A few emotional and social drivers that help in likes, shares, and comments:
Self-Presentation – A user shares content that reflects his emotional responses, individual tastes, and self-perception, and for this, he uses social media platforms like Instagram that help him in defining and presenting himself to the world.
Requirement for validation – Likes, shares, and comments work as some measures of approval from the society, and they fulfil the basic needs of users for positive engagement and validation from other people.
Belongingness – When you interact with your peers online, using simple acts such as liking their posts, you help in fostering a feeling of connection, belongingness, and empathy.
The significance of various engagement types
When you devote a lot of time to social media platforms, you need to understand the significance of different engagement types:
Types – Most often, types tend to be passive, and they need some effort from users to provide a simple approval.
Shares – Sharing suggests that users found a piece of content to be valuable, worth distributing to other people, and relevant. Thus, it shares high engagement.
Comments – Comments provide a direct way in which you can be involved in seeking information, expressing opinions, and engaging in discussions.
Effect on content
The effect of likes, comments, and shares on content is mentioned below:
Building of a brand – When you get positive engagement, you can develop trust, familiarity, and value, and they seem important to build brand loyalty. They also help in driving your future actions.
Elevated visibility – Engagement improves the visibility of a post by influencing the algorithms of a platform to show the content to a wider audience.
In the End
It is not only important to spend a lot of time on social media, as you need to be aware of the psychology too that works behind why people like, comment, and share on social media. When you understand this thing, you can be more mindful of your online interactions. When you recognize the influences and motivations that drive your behaviour, you can make a conscious choice about the way you engage with a social media platform.