Social Media is Large and in Charge
Connection and Social Media
Humans are social creatures and in order to thrive, we need connections with each other. Social connection has an effect on physical and psychological health. Seppala (Aug 2012) states that a lack of social connection is a greater detriment to health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. It strengthens our immune system, lowers anxiety and depression and may even help us to live longer.
Social media opens up the possibility of making connections all over the world, in ways we have never experienced before. It makes me happy to see my family in another state post pictures of a birthday party or weekend camping trip. It helps me to feel connected to them by participating virtually in their events. Even though I wasn’t at the birthday party in person, we can still laugh together over the cake that fell in the floor because I am able to see pictures and post comments. I can see my best friend’s kids grow up via Facebook and Instagram, even though she lives three hours away. Those evoke real feelings, man.
Homophily
What is homophily? It means love of the same. It is the tendency of people to associate with those similar to themselves. Think about the people you friend/follow on social media. How similar are they to you? Are there exceptions? According to Kossinets & Watts (2009), it is reasonable to suppose that most people have more opportunities to form social ties than they have the time, energy, or interest to pursue; thus, the particular individuals with whom they do choose to spend their time must presumably offer greater benefit. In other words, I just don’t have the time or interest to put up with some people on social media.
There are benefits to homophily as well. For one, it is easier to communicate and associate with others who have the same characteristics and experiences as you do. Kossinets & Watts (2009) states that one should expect that trust and solidarity would be easier to establish and the ongoing cost of maintaining ties would be lower with those who are similar. It benefits me to be friends with other moms so we can commiserate over raising teenagers.
Algorithms
So, is homophily something that just randomly happens? The short answer is yes; we gravitate towards others like ourselves. But, thanks to the complex system of social media algorithms, you may be influenced into certain engagements while visiting Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
According to Oremus (Jan 2016), Facebook scans and collects everything posted in the past week by each of your friends, everyone you follow, each group you belong to, and every Facebook page you’ve liked. Then, according to a closely guarded and constantly shifting formula, Facebook’s news feed algorithm ranks them all, in what it believes to be the precise order of how likely you are to find each post worthwhile.
Wow! According to Statista (2017), there are over 2 billion monthly active users on Facebook. That is a lot of people being influenced to see or not see certain posts. Oremus (Jan 2016) states the algorithm can be tweaked to make us happy or sad; it can expose us to new and challenging ideas or insulate us in ideological bubbles.
References
Kossinets, G., & Watts, D. (2009). Origins of homophily in an evolving social network. American Journal of Sociology, 115(2), 405–450. doi:10.1086/599247
Oremus, W. (Jan 2016). Who Controls Your Facebook Feed. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/cover_story/2016/01/how_facebook_s_news_feed_algorithm_works.html
Seppala, E. (Aug 2012). Connect to Thrive. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201208/connect-thrive
Statista (2017). The Statistics Portal. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/