Two Peas in A Pod

Jennifer Herrera
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read
Two peas in a pod.

Connecting to Social Media

We all want to feel connected to people via social media. We get excited and want to look at peoples post, pictures and comments. We enjoy being able to connect with individuals but not having to see them face to face, get emotional, and show facial expressions or our body language. When we go online, we are able to think through and post exactly what is on our mind after being able to think about, edit and make ourselves look good. We get strong feelings of fulfillment by being able to share our edited post that allows us to shine (Seiter, 2015).

We enjoy sharing with people because we are able to continue a relationship with our friend. We are able to connect and stay connected to people that we had relationships in high school, which gives us nostalgia. We like different peoples post because it is another way of keeping connected with them. By liking someone’s pictures or post, we are attaching worth to the relationship, which supplements closeness. In addition, we like peoples post that have liked our posts (Seiter, 2015).

The Concept & Benefit of Homophily

Homophily is love of the same. We are seeing groups on social media connecting with others. They connect through their mutual interests. This is homophily. Groups that do online gaming are attracted to other individuals of the same age, involvement and that lived close by. They then connected by doing searches together and traded on line (University of South Hampton, 2017). The benefits of homophily portrays positive behaviors amongst friends. It allows friendships to be formed through mutual respect (Christakis & Fowler, 2014).

Platform Algorithms

Platform algorithms is data that are obtained through a process to get a result. So, if you like an article about cooking on Facebook, then you will start seeing more feeds about cooking. Several algorithms on social media are aimed to be unbiased. If you purchase items like explosives, the algorithms will then find helpful information about explosives (Murthy, 2016).

Some algorithms are designed as a safeguard. They might have filters that are specific to internet searching or video delivery specifically for children. An example of this would be if your child has a profile with Netflix set to child’s setting. Because of the child setting the algorithm will not send out inappropriate content to the child.

Thank you,

Jennifer

References:

Christakis, N., & Fowler, J. (2014). Friendship and natural selection. PNAS 2014 111 (Supplement 3) 1 10796–10801. doi:10.1073/pnas.1400825111

Seiter, C. (2015, August 10). The psychology of social media: The deep impulses that drive us online. Retrieved from https://blog.bufferapp.com/psychology-of-social-media

Murthy, D. (2016, November 19). Algorithms and social media. Tag archives: homophily. Retrieved

From http://www.dhirajmurthy.com/tag/homophily/

University of South Hampton (2017). The power of social media: Homophily in social networks. Retrieved from https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/social-media/0/steps/16055

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