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Posts Tagged ‘social media’

A new study gives potentially important information about social media use and why addiction to websites like Facebook is on the rise worldwide. According to Dr. Cecilie Schou Andreassen of the University of Bergen in Norway, social media addiction is a distinct type of Internet addiction that has grown significantly over the past several years. Andreassen’s research provides a first-ever look at the demographics of the average addicted Facebook user. According to Andreassen, Facebook addiction is much more common with younger users and women, both of whom respond to the social atmosphere of the website compared to real-life interactions. Her research also shows that socially insecure users are more likely to develop an addiction, as the website offers them a way to interact with their peers with less of a risk of perceived judgments. In contrast, organized people are less at risk for addiction and tend to use social networking websites as a tool to improve their professional lives rather than a complete source for socializing. Andreassen’s group also attempted to define warning signs for Facebook addiction. The team’s research notes that addicts will feel a persistent need to check their Facebook profiles and may become uncomfortable or restless when denied the opportunity. Facebook addiction also progresses over time. Addicts check the site more frequently and may start ignoring their responsibilities and avoiding real-life social situations in favor of social media. Severe Facebook addicts will notice their addiction negatively affecting their jobs and school coursework. Andreassen surveyed 423 students to create the new Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. Higher-scoring individuals have more severe symptoms or more symptoms than lower-scoring individuals. Andreassen hopes that the scale will provide psychologists and social media researchers with a logical way to assess social media addiction in individuals, ideally allowing for better research and more effective treatment options for addicts. Members of her research group have also worked to develop other research instruments, including scales that measure work addiction. However, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale is the one of the first instruments specifically designed to measure social media addiction rather than Internet addiction, which is more generally defined.

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Facebook Addiction Symptoms are Found by New Study

When it comes to sex and love, what is blurring the line? It’s been said that every seven seconds men think about sex, but what time of day do they think about it most, are they the only ones thinking about it, and what causes them to think about it? Oh, and as for love, why do we so often get the two confused? Is there some kind of factor causing this blur? The results of this study give us some insight into the love lives of men and women. Thanks to University of Edinburgh we were able to conduct this research using a tool they developed called TweetOLife . Researchers used TweetOLife to analyze millions of tweets collected between November 2009 and February 2010. It let us analyze the gender and hourly differences of these tweets, so that we could end up with the results below. Which Gender Actually Talks About Sex More Our first two questions were common ones: which gender talks about love more and which gender talks about sex more? If you look at the graph below, you’ll find that women talk about love 26% more than men. The exact numbers showing 37% of men and 63% of women discussed love. But what surprised us is that it is pretty even between the genders when it comes to who is talking about sex. Turns out women talk about sex nearly the same as men do. The actual numbers reveal 48% of men and 52% of women tweeted about sex. So When Is Sex On the Mind? So we know who’s talking about it sex and love, but when are they talking about it, and what is making them think about it? This answer was not that surprising: alcohol. When we looked at the frequency of tweets containing the word “drunk,” we noticed these tweets peaked from 10pm to 2am. We also noticed tweets containing the words “sex” and “love” also increased during these times. Just for fun, we put in the word “horny” and it had the highest correlation with “drunk” tweets. While this study is not perfect, it does reveal some interesting insights into the sex and love lives of men and women. It also gives us an idea of what may be blurring the line between these two feelings. It is important to remember these are general topics and phrases used in tweets. For example, analyzing tweets from a person saying “I love my boyfriend” would have been mixed in with the same patch of people stating “I love Justin Bieber.” Fans drunken love for Bieber would make a cool study though. In the study’s defense, these people are still stating their love which may have increased with intoxication. Also, to make sure this did not flaw the data we also tested the phrase “I love you” and found a similar correlation. So what can we learn from this study? If someone tells you they love you between 10pm and 2am, you might not want to trust what they are telling you.

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When Is Sex On the Mind?

A study from the University of Bristol’s Intelligent Systems Laboratory indicates that posts from Twitter users can serve as an accurate indicator of overall public opinion. Researchers Thomas Lansdall-Welfare, Vasileios Lampos and Nello Cristianin monitored keywords in random tweets from July of 2009 to January of 2012, tracking 140-character messages from nearly 10 million users to monitor public moods in the UK. The resulting study, “Effects of the recession on public mood in the UK,” shows correlations between tweets and public opinion. The researchers, who presented their findings at the International Workshop on Social Media Applications in News and Entertainment, noted increases in sadness, anger and fear in summer of 2011 during the London riots. Negative tweets also rose sharply in October of 2010 when the UK government announced sweeping spending cuts. Interestingly, negative emotions dropped during the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Researchers note that these events do not necessarily correlate with the full extent of Twitter users’ changes in tone and mood. While the goal of the study was to monitor Twitter users’ reaction to the recession, researchers did not intend to interpret the significance of specific events. Instead, they intended to show how Twitter’s micro-blogging format and widespread use makes it an accurate tool for monitoring overall public opinion. The researchers note that regular analysis of tweets could allow public officials to predict riots or to gauge the overall hostility of well-connected populations. There are certainly limitations to the study’s applications. Because the researchers used a “word mining” technique to collect their data, their results are less accurate. Some users might use trigger words ironically or sarcastically, which should not count towards an overall assessment of public opinion. The researchers note that their study’s accuracy would improve if they were able to pick through the results by hand. However, as the study looked at more than 484 million tweets, researchers could not have accurately sorted their results without severely diminishing their sample group. The study also has a more obvious skew: it focuses on Twitter users. Twitter users are more likely to be young and female than other social media websites’ users, so the user base’s opinion is less accurate than a general unbiased poll. As the study used basic keyword analysis to track joy, sadness, anger and fear, it also provides a very simplified picture of the UK population’s reactivity. Given Twitter’s 140-character limitations, some users might use more hyperbole in their online updates than they would in their day-to-day interactions, which would trigger an unrealistically dramatic change in the research data. Nevertheless, the research shows the feasibility of tracking public opinion through social media websites. Researchers could see Twitter users react in predictable ways to holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day. They could also instantaneously monitor public opinion during major news events to see visible changes in public opinion. The team’s future work will focus on a comparison of traditional media and social media. This will likely mean a comparison of general public polls and the research data to test the accuracy of the data. Until the researchers can test the accuracy of the data, any detailed analysis of the team’s data is premature. The research might show an accurate assessment of Twitter users’ opinions, but those users are certainly biased. This is not to say that the study isn’t exciting–future research on how social media users show their moods could have numerous advantages for social media marketers, political analysts and other professionals. Still, it is important to note that this type of research makes quick headlines, but analysts should give attention to possible biases before reading too far into the data.

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Can Twitter Accurately Show Public Moods?

While professionals can use all social networking websites to promote their products, services and personal careers, each major social network has its own distinct advantages. An infographic from business consultant network Zintro outlines some of these advantages. Facebook is absolutely the largest social networking website with over 845 million users. 17.5 percent of the website’s users are in the 21-24 year old age group, followed closely by the 18-20 year old age group. Businesses should share blog posts, videos and other updates with Facebook users, but the website’s massive user base makes it difficult for businesses to effectively make personal connections with individual customers. Businesses should set up Facebook “pages,” which collect and display business info for interested visitors. Twitter provides a different type of interaction with customers. About 54.6 percent of Twitter’s 140 million active users are female, and the website’s simple format makes it ideal for quick interactions. The micro-blogging website makes it easy to give quick product updates or to start a conversation with existing customers and fans. Many large businesses are using Twitter to address customer complaints in a public forum. By addressing issues publicly, these businesses build a good brand reputation. LinkedIn’s demographics are fairly even, with an audience comprised of 51 percent male users. The business-focused social networking website has an audience of over 150 million users. LinkedIn is most effective for building a reputation in an industry or for making business-to-business connections. Professionals can also create groups to lead discussions with their colleagues and develop an effective web presence. Although some social marketing experts have written off Google+ as a fad, the website has over 100 million users and continues to gain a primarily male, educated audience. Google+ allows users to arrange their contacts into circles, which makes it easy to target specific groups. Google+ is a useful tool for starting conversations with colleagues or fans and may provide a means of establishing expertise in an industry.

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Marketing Effectively Through Different Social Media Networks [Infographic]

Do we spend too much time on our cell phones, and do these interactions get in the way of real human companionship? Sherry Turkle, a psychologist who has studied the effect of digital technology on human interactions, believes that cell phones and computers offer an unhealthy constant connection without any of the real responsibilities or inherent messiness of real human interactions. “Our devices are so psychologically powerful that they don’t only change what we do,” Turkle says, “they change who we are.” In a speech to the TED conference, Turkle explains that text messages, Facebook status updates and other micro-interactions allow us to exercise unhealthy control over our day-to-day relationships. Individuals avoid person-to-person interactions in favor of text-based digital interactions because they can control these digital experiences more fully. Turkle calls this the Goldilocks effect–people want their interactions to be not too close, not too far away, but just right. Technology allows us to delete, alter and change our discussions with other people to build the exact image of ourselves that we want. We sacrifice conversation, because conversation can lead to unexpected circumstances and discomfort. Turkle notes that this has a negative effect on our ability to convey empathy and other emotions. “We’re developing robots that are specifically designed to be companions to the elderly, to our children, to us,” said Turkle. “Have we so lost confidence that we can be there for each other?” Turkle believes that the best way to emphasize real human connections over digital relationships is not to completely abstain from text messages or other technologies–after all, she opens her speech by reading a text message she had received from her daughter moments before she went on stage–but rather to create tech-free zones at work, home and school. Parents especially should insist on family meals without any sort of digital interference. Ultimately, communications technologies offer great rewards along with some notable risks. By spending too much time connected to our online personae, we can certainly disconnect from one another. It’s important to remember that the purpose of technology is to help our real-world lives and not vice-versa.

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How Digital Interactions Impact Our Interpersonal Communication [Video]

Top marketing experts divulge their lessons learned and secrets on social media with everything you ever wanted to learn, from the basics to the most advanced techniques. Easily consumable in short articles, discover if your company should use social media and determine how to hire a social media agency (or if you should keep the position in-house). Dive into the latest trends, learn specific methods to gain maximum exposure from your efforts and define how to measure results. Download the April issue of the Social Media Wrap Up now and receive it in your inbox in less than a minute! Request Free!

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Social Media Wrap Up Report: April 2012