Social Connection and Homophily

Making Connections?
Social media is a social network that consists of others with similar interests. Individuals who utilize social networking sites often will add their likes or join groups for tastes in music, movies, video games, brands, etc. This helps individuals find users who enjoy the same interests as a common theme. They can friend one another or stay in contact through other social connections services such as chatrooms, instant messaging, email, and voice chat.
We, as humans, are social creatures. We desire feeling a bond with another individual who shares similar interests and tastes as we do. Some utilize social media to deter the loneliness they feel. Others use it to expand their friendships. We may be searching for a more personal connection such as a relationship. These traits share common distinctions between how we feel about ourselves and how well we feel we would like to be around someone similar to ones self.
Homophily
What is homophily? Homophily is the connection of association with others who have similar interests. This connection can be mental, emotional, or physical. Research has shown that this commonly appears in the animal kingdom with zebras, meerkats, etc. (Fu et al, pg.1, 2012).
Social media does have a correlation for men finding relationships better online when compared to women. Women were more likely to form online friendships in contrast (Harris et Aboujaoude, 2016).
Platform Algorithms
How do SNS (Social Networking Sites) know what our interests are? How do they know what groups, music, movies, or other interests we may be interested in? Algorithms.
Algorithms are defined as a process in which data is processed through in a way to obtain a result.

Amazon utilizes many algorithms to advise items a user may want to purchase. For example, if a user was looking at TVs they may recommend accessories to go along with the TVs. This can include DVD players, computer sticks, wall mounts, universal remotes, and applications. It does this by analyzing the items the user has viewed along with their shopping habits. The more the user browses the site, and more often, the more it can build a profile on the shopper.
This similar effect can be placed in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social networking sites. They take in information about what users are viewing, likes, comments, and shares. It determines what items the user may be interested in and the more a user validates that information, the more fine-tuned the algorithm becomes. Information can also be provided from third-party websites.
References
Fu, F., Nowak, M. A., Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2012). The evolution of homophily. Scientific Reports, 2, 845. doi:10.1038/srep00845
Harris Keith M. and Aboujaoude Elias. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. August 2016, 19(8): 487–493. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0164
