The language of Facebook and online social content:
The things we say to each other, through the posts we share
When was the last time you actually wrote something on your Facebook status? Now compare that number with how many posts (video, articles, gifs, links,) you’ve shared.
If you find yourself sharing more content than actually writing / creating content, then you’re a part of a shift in the ways we are communicating and connecting with our online social networks.
Remember how “poking” used to be a thing on Facebook? Notice how it suddenly became so easy to tag, link, and share content? Notice how there are now pre-selected emoticons to make it easier to react to things?
From a shared Facebook post, to the friends that hit the like button on the post. The exchange of content and information happened without the need of the people ever actually directly communicating to one another.
What this means, is that the language of Facebook is slowly boiled down to the content we pass on and share.
Predominantly through the links of other blog / news article, the titles on the posts themselves are framed within a statement. i.e.
These are among the many similar kinds of posts that are found on my newsfeed. And if your Facebook feed is anything similar, this means that we are using these posts to speak for us.
The takeaway here, is that users are willingly going to share content, if it aligns with a value or a statement they wish to communicate to their social groups.
