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TedTalk

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How social media creates a better world: Jan Rezab at TEDxSSE

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Newsela

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Newsela | Negative, positive effects of excessive social media use on teens studied

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Studies mixed on social media's effect on young people

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Newsela

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Newsela | How Black scientists and nature-lovers are using social media to elevate their voices

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Black Outdoor Enthusiasts Raise Awareness

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BBC News

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By Joe Tidy & Sophia Smith Galer BBC News

President Donald Trump has warned that he will ban TikTok unless an American firm buys its US operations. So how did an app attract millions of users but come to be seen as a national security risk in just two years?

Alone it stands, a red gummy bear atop a dimly lit stage, and the unmistakable voice of Adele singing. Then, as the unseen crowd joins in with the next line, the camera pans out to reveal hundreds more gummy bears singing along to Someone Like You.

It's silly and cute and extremely watchable. And for the fledgling video app TikTok, it did more in 15 seconds than marketing budgets of millions.

Posted in December 2018, it quickly racked up millions of views on the app but - more importantly - was picked up by thousands of copycats on other social networks.

The world was alerted to the app and TikTok has since attracted a vibrant, creative and young audience of hundreds of millions.

The Adele video sparked a trend on social media

TikTok's origins are different to the fairytale start-up story we have heard before. This is not an empire built by a couple of friends with a great idea in their mum's garage.

It actually started life as three different apps.

The first was an app called Musical.ly, which launched in Shanghai in 2014 but had strong US business links and a healthy audience in that key market.

In 2016, Chinese tech giant ByteDance launched a similar service in China called Douyin. It attracted 100 million users in China and Thailand in the space of a year.

ByteDance decided it was onto something and wanted to expand under a different brand - TikTok. So, in 2018 it bought Musical.ly, folded it in, and began TikTok's global expansion.

WATCH: What's going on with TikTok?

TikTok's secret lies in its use of music and an extraordinarily powerful algorithm, which learns what content users like to see far faster than many other apps.

Users can choose from a huge database of songs, filters and movie clips to lipsync to.

It's inspired some huge trends like Lil Nas X's Old Town Road or Curtis Roach's Bored in the House. Even the BBC News theme tune went viral as Brits made light of daily coronavirus briefings.

Many people will spend most of the time on the For You Page. This is where the algorithm puts content in front of users, anticipating what they will enjoy based on content they have already engaged with.

It's also where it shows content it thinks could go viral. The idea is that if the content is good it will travel, regardless of how many followers the creator has.

Many TikTok communities have emerged, brought together by the types of content they enjoy or their sense of identity.

Communities like "Alt" or "Deep" often feature creators who aren't necessarily looking to fill their wallets but who are simply on the platform to make funny or informative content. For them, it's not about winning the attention of big brands - it's about finding like-minded people.

The growth of TikTok and its sister app Douyin have been rapid.

In July last year the apps already had one billion downloads worldwide, of which 500 million were active users. A year later they were on two billion downloads and about 800 million active users.

The app's rapid growth has also put TikTok at the forefront of the minds of politicians. What does it mean to have a Chinese app so quickly become a large part of modern life?

Although the accusations are vague, India and the US have concerns that TikTok is collecting sensitive data from users that could be used by the Chinese government for spying. It has been alleged that every major Chinese enterprise has an internal "cell" answerable to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, with many of its agents tasked with gathering secrets.

India initially banned TikTok in April 2019, after a court ordered its removal from app stores amid claims it was being used to spread pornography. That decision was overturned on appeal.

When it banned TikTok again, along with dozens of other Chinese owned apps in June 2020, the Indian government said it had received complaints about apps "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data".

The US government opened a national security review of the platform in late 2019, after both a Democrat and a Republican lawmaker suggested it posed a risk.

More recently, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed TikTok was among a number of Chinese apps "feeding data directly to the Chinese Communist Party".

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office and Australian intelligence agencies are currently probing the app but haven't revealed what they are looking for.

It's of course worth noting that relations between these countries are tense, with the US at odds with China over trade, Indian and Chinese forces involved in border clashes, and the UK opposing new security laws in Hong Kong.

Exactly what TikTok does with data is contested.

We know from its privacy policy that it collects a huge amount, including:

Which videos are watched and commented on

Location data

Phone model and operating system

Keystroke rhythms when people type

It was also revealed that it read the copy-and-paste clipboards of users, but so did dozens of other apps including Reddit, LinkedIn and the BBC News app, and nothing sinister was discovered.

Most evidence points to TikTok's data collection being comparable to other data-hungry social networks such as Facebook.

However, unlike its US-based rivals, TikTok says it is willing to offer an unprecendented level of transparency in order to ease some of the fears about its data collection and flow.

TikTok's new chief executive Kevin Mayer, an American former Disney executive, said it would allow experts to examine the code behind its algorithms. This is hugely significant in an industry where data and code is closely guarded.

However, the concerns aren't just about what data is collected, it's also more theoretical - could the Chinese government compel ByteDance to hand over data?

The same concerns have been raised about Huawei.

The 2017 National Security Law in China compels any organisation or citizen to "support, assist and co-operate with the state intelligence work".

However, like Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, bosses at TikTok have repeatedly said that if this ever happened, "we would definitely say no to any request for data".

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming is China's 10th richest person, according to the Forbes Rich List

Another concern is of the possibility of censorship, or of the app being used to influence public debates.

TikTok is one of the first platforms many young people will come to to share social activism content.

In May it promoted #BlackLivesMatter as a trend. But even as the hashtag drew in billions of views, there were criticisms that content from black creators was being supressed and that hashtags related to the protests were being hidden.

It is not the first time TikTok's algorithm has been criticised for the way content is chosen.

A report by The Intercept suggested that moderators had been encouraged to deprioritise content from anyone deemed too "ugly", or poor.

Last year, the Guardian reported that TikTok censored material deemed to be politically sensitive, including footage of Tiananmen Square protests and Tibetan independence demands.

Further reporting from the Washington Post suggested moderators in China had the final say on whether videos were approved.

ByteDance said such guidelines had since been phased out and that all moderation was independent of Beijing.

Will TikTok be banned?

Yet the discussions taking place with Microsoft about the possibility of buying TikTok's US operations show it is one of the most significant technology products in years.

TikTok has emerged as a meeting place for under-25s, whereas apps like Twitter and Instagram are often seen as being for older users.

But for those who use TikTok to have their voices heard, the possibility of a ban feels like a loss.

Downloads of shortform video app competitors Byte and Triller have spiked in the US as users prepare themselves for jumping ship.

But many, it seems, will hang on to TikTok until the very last moment - if that moment comes.

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TikTok: The story of a social media giant

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How did the social media platform get so big and where could it be heading?

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Newsela | YouTube creators use platform to show what life is like with disabilities

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Some YouTube content creators use the platform to show what it's like to have disabilities.

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Child Mind Institute

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Many parents worry about how exposure to technology might affect toddlers developmentally. We know our preschoolers are picking up new social and cognitive skills at a stunning pace, and we don't want hours spent glued to an iPad to impede that. But adolescence is an equally important period of rapid development, and too few of us are paying attention to how our teenagers' use of technology - much more intense and intimate than a 3-year-old playing with dad's iPhone - is affecting them. In fact, experts worry that the social media and text messages that have become so integral to teenage life are promoting anxiety and lowering self-esteem.

Young people report that there might be good reason to worry. A survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health asked 14-24-year-olds in the UK how social media platforms impacted their health and well-being. The survey results found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all led to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image, and loneliness.

Indirect communication

Teens are masters at keeping themselves occupied in the hours after school until way past bedtime. When they're not doing their homework (and when they are) they're online and on their phones, texting, sharing, trolling, scrolling, you name it. Of course before everyone had an Instagram account teens kept themselves busy, too, but they were more likely to do their chatting on the phone, or in person when hanging out at the mall. It may have looked like a lot of aimless hanging around, but what they were doing was experimenting, trying out skills, and succeeding and failing in tons of tiny real-time interactions that kids today are missing out on. For one thing, modern teens are learning to do most of their communication while looking at a screen, not another person.

"As a species we are very highly attuned to reading social cues," says Catherine Steiner-Adair, EdD, a clinical psychologist and author of The Big Disconnect. "There's no question kids are missing out on very critical social skills. In a way, texting and online communicating puts everybody in a context where body language, facial expression, and even the smallest kinds of vocal reactions are rendered invisible."

Lowering the risks

Certainly speaking indirectly creates a barrier to clear communication, but that's not all. Learning how to make friends is a major part of growing up, and friendship requires a certain amount of risk-taking. This is true for making a new friend, but it's also true for maintaining friendships. When there are problems that need to be faced - big ones or small ones - it takes courage to be honest about your feelings and then hear what the other person has to say. Learning to effectively cross these bridges is part of what makes friendship fun and exciting, and also scary. "Part of healthy self-esteem is knowing how to say what you think and feel even when you're in disagreement with other people or it feels emotionally risky," notes Dr. Steiner-Adair.

But when friendship is conducted online and through texts, kids are doing this in a context stripped of many of the most personal - and sometimes intimidating - aspects of communication. It's easier to keep your guard up when you're texting, so less is at stake. You aren't hearing or seeing the effect that your words are having on the other person. Because the conversation isn't happening in real time, each party can take more time to consider a response. No wonder kids say calling someone on the phone is "too intense"- it requires more direct communication, and if you aren't used to that it may well feel scary.

If kids aren't getting enough practice relating to people and getting their needs met in person and in real time, many of them will grow up to be adults who are anxious about our species' primary means of communication - talking. And of course social negotiations only get riskier as people get older and begin navigating romantic relationships and employment.

Cyberbullying and the imposter syndrome

The other big danger that comes from kids communicating more indirectly is that it has gotten easier to be cruel. "Kids text all sorts of things that you would never in a million years contemplate saying to anyone's face," says Donna Wick, EdD, a clinical and developmental psychologist. She notes that this seems to be especially true of girls, who typically don't like to disagree with each other in "real life."

"You hope to teach them that they can disagree without jeopardizing the relationship, but what social media is teaching them to do is disagree in ways that are more extreme and do jeopardize the relationship. It's exactly what you don't want to have happen," she says.

Dr. Steiner-Adair agrees that girls are particularly at risk. "Girls are socialized more to compare themselves to other people, girls in particular, to develop their identities, so it makes them more vulnerable to the downside of all this." She warns that a lack of solid self-esteem is often to blame. "We forget that relational aggression comes from insecurity and feeling awful about yourself, and wanting to put other people down so you feel better."

Peer acceptance is a big thing for adolescents, and many of them care about their image as much as a politician running for office, and to them it can feel as serious. Add to that the fact that kids today are getting actual polling data on how much people like them or their appearance via things like "likes." It's enough to turn anyone's head. Who wouldn't want to make themselves look cooler if they could? So kids can spend hours pruning their online identities, trying to project an idealized image. Teenage girls sort through hundreds of photos, agonizing over which ones to post online. Boys compete for attention by trying to out-gross one other, pushing the envelope as much as they can in the already disinhibited atmosphere online. Kids gang up on each other.

Adolescents have always been doing this, but with the advent of social media they are faced with more opportunities - and more traps - than ever before. When kids scroll through their feeds and see how great everyone seems, it only adds to the pressure. We're used to worrying about the impractical ideals that photoshopped magazine models give to our kids, but what happens with the kid next door is photoshopped, too? Even more confusing, what about when your own profile doesn't really represent the person that you feel like you are on the inside?

"Adolescence and the early twenties in particular are the years in which you are acutely aware of the contrasts between who you appear to be and who you think you are," says Dr. Wick. "It's similar to the 'imposter syndrome' in psychology. As you get older and acquire more mastery, you begin to realize that you actually are good at some things, and then you feel that gap hopefully narrow. But imagine having your deepest darkest fear be that you aren't as good as you look, and then imagine needing to look that good all the time! It's exhausting."

As Dr. Steiner-Adair explains, "Self-esteem comes from consolidating who you are." The more identities you have, and the more time you spend pretending to be someone you aren't, the harder it's going to be to feel good about yourself.

Stalking (and being ignored)

Another big change that has come with new technology and especially smart phones is that we are never really alone. Kids update their status, share what they're watching, listening to, and reading, and have apps that let their friends know their specific location on a map at all times. Even if a person isn't trying to keep his friends updated, he's still never out of reach of a text message. The result is that kids feel hyperconnected with each other. The conversation never needs to stop, and it feels like there's always something new happening.

"Whatever we think of the 'relationships' maintained and in some cases initiated on social media, kids never get a break from them," notes Dr. Wick. "And that, in and of itself, can produce anxiety. Everyone needs a respite from the demands of intimacy and connection; time alone to regroup, replenish and just chill out. When you don't have that, it's easy to become emotionally depleted, fertile ground for anxiety to breed."

It's also surprisingly easy to feel lonely in the middle of all that hyperconnection. For one thing, kids now know with depressing certainty when they're being ignored. We all have phones and we all respond to things pretty quickly, so when you're waiting for a response that doesn't come, the silence can be deafening. The silent treatment might be a strategic insult or just the unfortunate side effect of an online adolescent relationship that starts out intensely but then fades away.

"In the old days when a boy was going to break up with you, he had to have a conversation with you. Or at least he had to call," says Dr. Wick. "These days he might just disappear from your screen, and you never get to have the 'What did I do?' conversation." Kids are often left imagining the worst about themselves.

But even when the conversation doesn't end, being in a constant state of waiting can still provoke anxiety. We can feel ourselves being put on the back burner, we put others back there, and our very human need to communicate is effectively delegated there, too.

What should parents do?

Both experts interviewed for this article agreed that the best thing parents can do to minimize the risks associated with technology is to curtail their own consumption first. It's up to parents to set a good example of what healthy device usage looks like. Most of us check our phones or our email too much, out of either real interest or nervous habit. Kids should be used to seeing our faces, not our heads bent over a screen. Establish technology-free zones in the house and technology-free hours when no one uses the phone, including mom and dad. "Don't walk in the door after work in the middle of a conversation," Dr. Steiner-Adair advises. "Don't walk in the door after work, say 'hi' quickly, and then 'just check your email.' In the morning, get up a half hour earlier than your kids and check your email then. Give them your full attention until they're out the door. And neither of you should be using phones in the car to or from school because that's an important time to talk."

Not only does limiting the amount of time you spend plugged in to computers provide a healthy counterpoint to the tech-obsessed world, it also strengthens the parent-child bond and makes kids feel more secure. Kids need to know that you are available to help them with their problems, talk about their day, or give them a reality check.

"It is the mini-moments of disconnection, when parents are too focused on their own devices and screens, that dilute the parent-child relationship," Dr. Steiner-Adair warns. And when kids start turning to the internet for help or to process whatever happened during the day, you might not like what happens. "Tech can give your children more information that you can, and it doesn't have your values," notes Dr. Steiner-Adair. "It won't be sensitive to your child's personality, and it won't answer his question in a developmentally appropriate way."

In addition Dr. Wick advises delaying the age of first use as much as possible. "I use the same advice here that I use when talking about kids and alcohol - try to get as far as you can without anything at all." If your child is on a social media platform, Dr. Wick says that you should friend them and monitor their page. But she advises against going through text messages unless there is cause for concern. "If you have a reason to be worried then okay, but it better be a good reason. I see parents who are just plain old spying on their kids. Parents should begin by trusting their children. To not even give your kid the benefit of the doubt is incredibly damaging to the relationship. You have to feel like your parents think you're a good kid."

Offline, the gold standard advice for helping kids build healthy self-esteem is to get them involved in something that they're interested in. It could be sports or music or taking apart computers or volunteering - anything that sparks an interest and gives them confidence. When kids learn to feel good about what they can do instead of how they look and what they own, they're happier and better prepared for success in real life. That most of these activities also involve spending time interacting with peers face-to-face is just the icing on the cake.

Frequently Asked Questions

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How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers - Child Mind Institute

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How does social media affect teens? Experts say kids are growing up with more anxiety and less self-esteem due to social media. Read advice for parents from specialists in our article.

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PBS NewsHour

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The drug-like effect of screen time on the teenage brain

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Newsela

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Newsela | Teens are missing out on real-world socializing

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More teens are looking down at their phones and not socializing, causing loneliness.

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Science News for Students

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Teens sneak a peek at the internet every chance they get. In fact, the average U.S. teenager spends almost nine hours a day on digital devices. Much of that time is on social media, such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. The sites have become important places for students to interact. But sometimes these connections lead to disconnections.

Using social media to connect with others is kind of like having a private conversation in a public place. But there's a difference. Even when you're chatting with a friend in the middle of a physical crowd, most other people can't hear what you say. On social media, your conversations can be read by anyone with access. Indeed, posts on some sites are publicly available to anyone who looks for them. Elsewhere, people can limit who has access by adjusting their privacy settings. (But even many private profiles are fairly public.)

Depending on whether people notice your posts - and how positively they respond - your online interactions may be quite positive. Or not. Social media can make some teens feel depressed and isolated. They can feel cut out of social interactions. They may feel judged. In fact, people who visit social media sites to feel connected to friends may end up caught in online drama, or even cyber-bullying.

But being glued to your phone or engrossed in a Snapchat story isn't all bad. Social media provides an important place for people to connect. The feedback that users get from their peers can boost self-esteem. And social media can even boost relationships among family members.

A filtered view

The average teen has about 300 online friends. When people post to their social media account, they're speaking to that large audience - even if their posts aren't publicly available. That same audience can see the responses other people provide through comments or "likes."

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Those likes and comments influence the kinds of posts teens put up - and leave up. A 2015 study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University in University Park found that teens were more likely than adults to remove Instagram posts within 12 hours of posting. They took down posts that had few likes or comments. This suggests that teens try to make themselves look good by only keeping up popular posts.

Peer feedback plays a big role in how teens view themselves and each other, note Jacqueline Nesi and Mitchell Prinstein. These psychologists at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill study how teens use social media.

More than adults do, teens present idealized versions of themselves online, the researchers find. Teens may only share photos that show them having fun with friends, for example. This filtered view of their lives makes others believe all is well - even when it's not.

All teens compare themselves to others. That's an important part of figuring out who you are as you grow up. But social media makes this experience more extreme. You can actually measure how popular a person or a photo is, for example. And those carefully crafted profiles can make it feel like everyone else is living a better life than you are.

Students' use of social media "may form distorted perceptions of their peers," Nesi says. Teens compare their own messy lives to the highlight reels that their peers present. This can make life feel unfair.

Such comparisons can be a problem, especially for unpopular people.

In a 2015 study of eighth- and ninth-graders, Nesi and Prinstein found that many teens who used social media experienced symptoms of depression. That was particularly true for those who were unpopular. Nesi speculates that unpopular teens may be more likely than popular kids to make "upward" comparisons. Those are comparisons with someone who seems better in some way - more popular, for example, or wealthier.

Those findings fit with previous studies that found unpopular teens get less positive feedback on their posts. That may happen because they simply have fewer real-life friends - and therefore fewer online connections. Or it may have to do with the types of things those teens post. Other researchers have found that unpopular teens write more negative posts than their peers. These people are more likely to post about unhappy events (such as having a phone stolen) than happy ones. Together, these factors can lead to low self-esteem and symptoms of depression.
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More popular teens, however, don't tend to become depressed or lose self-esteem. "They are more likely to make 'downward' comparisons with others, feeling superior to those whose profiles they review," Prinstein says. "Fair or not, they tend to have more online friends and more activity on their feeds, making them feel popular online too."

Prinstein urges teens to get help for friends who seem depressed. "Teens who seem to be sad or irritable for a period of two weeks or more may be experiencing depression," he says. This is especially true if they've also lost interest in activities that used to be fun, or if their sleeping or eating habits also have changed.

It's important for students who notice a friend acting this way to encourage that friend to get help. "One of five girls and young women will experience a major depressive episode by the age of 25," Prinstein says. "Almost one in 10 will seriously consider suicide before they graduate high school," he adds.

A place to connect

Social media sites are important places to socialize, observe Alice Marwick and danah boyd. Marwick is a culture and communications researcher at Fordham University in New York City. boyd is a social media researcher at Microsoft Research, also in New York.

The two interviewed hundreds of teens from across the United States. Since teens spend so much of each day connecting online, many adults worry that kids no longer know how to communicate in person. In fact, boyd and Marwick found the opposite was true.

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Teens want to hang out together, boyd says. Social networks let them do that, even when their lives are too busy - or too restricted - to meet up in person. Even teens who have the time and freedom to hang out with their friends may have a hard time finding places to do so. Teens used to head to malls, movie theaters or parks. But many of these places discourage kids from hanging out. Changes like these make it much harder for teens to keep up with each others' lives. Social media can help to fill that gap.

But, the researchers add, there are important differences between hanging out on social media and spending time together in person.

Unlike a face-to-face conversation, online interactions can stick around. Once you post something, it's out there for the long term. Even posts you delete aren't always gone for good. (Think you're in the clear with Snapchat, where every post disappears after 10 seconds? Not necessarily. Those temporary posts may stick around if someone takes a screenshot before they vanish.)

Depending on someone's privacy settings, certain social media posts can be visible to anyone who scrolls or clicks around enough. Sites such as Facebook are also searchable. Some users may be able to easily share a post you make, spreading it beyond your control. And teens (and adults) who connect with people from different areas of their lives might run into awkward moments - like when a friend leaves a joking comment on your post that your grandmother doesn't find funny at all.

Online 'drama'

Those features can lead to what teens might call "drama." Marwick and boyd define drama as conflict between people that is performed in front of an audience. Social media seems to turn up the drama. That's because others can watch the performance simply by hopping online. And they can encourage that drama by liking particular posts or comments.

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Online drama, and the attention it attracts, can be hurtful. But the teens that boyd and Marwick interviewed usually did not call these interactions "bullying."

"Drama is a word that teens use to encompass a lot of different behaviors," Marwick says. "Some of these behaviors might be what adults call bullying. But others are pranks, jokes, entertainment." Bullying, she notes, takes place over a long time and involves one teen exerting power over another.

Calling these behaviors drama "is a way for teens to avoid the language of bullying," she notes. Bullying creates victims and perpetrators. Teens don't want to be seen as either. Using the term "drama" removes those roles. It "allows them to save face even when drama is hurtful," Marwick says.

Such hurtful interactions can lead to depression, long-term mental-health problems or even suicide. Teens use the word "drama" to minimize serious behavior by their peers. So it's important for both adults and other teens to listen when teens talk about drama, Marwick says. Recognizing bullying - and stopping it - might just save a life.

Keeping it in the family

Social media is not just for teens, of course. People of all ages interact on Facebook, Snapchat and more. Indeed, many teens "friend" family members, including their parents, notes Sarah Coyne. She is a social scientist at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Such online relationships can actually improve family dynamics at home, she observes.

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In one 2013 study, Coyne and her colleagues interviewed families with at least one 12- to 17-year-old. Interviewers asked about each family member's social-media use. They asked how often family members communicated with each other on these sites and how connected each felt to the others. They also probed other behaviors. For instance, how likely were the participants to lie or cheat? Did they try to hurt people with whom they were angry? And how likely they were to make kind gestures online toward family members.

About half of these teens connected with their parents on social media, it turns out. Most didn't do so every day. But any social-media interaction made teens and parents feel more connected. This may be because families could respond to posts with likes or words of encouragement, Coyne says. Or perhaps social media gave parents a more in-depth look at their children's lives. That helped parents better understand their kids and what they were going through.

This sense of connection might have other benefits, too. Teens who connected with their parents online were more likely to help out family members. They were less likely to lash out at them when angry. And kids were less likely to feel depressed or to attempt to lie, cheat or steal.

The relationship between online connections and better behavior is a correlation, Coyne points out. That means she doesn't know what causes what. It's possible that friending their parents makes teens behave better. Or perhaps teens that friend their parents are already better-behaved.

Using social media can have real benefits, Prinstein says. It lets us connect with new friends and stay in touch with old ones. Both of these activities can make other people like us more, he says. And that "has been shown to have long-term benefits for our happiness and success."

Unfortunately, many people tend to get caught up in other aspects of social media. They focus on how many likes or shares they have, or how many people see their posts, Prinstein says. We use these numbers to measure our status. "Research shows that this kind of popularity leads to negative long-term outcomes," he says. Studies that measure changes in behavior over time suggest that people who are too focused on these measures of popularity can begin to drink or use drugs. They can become more aggressive. And they're unhappier in their relationships, he says.

It's easy to get dragged into the drama and other negative aspects of social media. But between strengthening family ties, boosting self-esteem and maintaining friendships, there's a lot to like about these online interactions.
Next: The power of 'like'

Power Words
More About Power Words

aggressive (n. aggressiveness) Quick to fight or argue, or forceful in making efforts to succeed or win.

behavior The way something, often a person or other organism, acts towards others, or conducts itself.

bullying (v. to bully) A group of repeated behaviors that are mean-spirited. They can include teasing, spreading rumors about someone, saying hurtful things to someone and intentionally leaving someone out of groups or activities. Sometimes bullying can include attacks using violence (such as hitting), threats of violence, yelling at someone or abusing someone with violent language. Much bullying takes place in person. But it also may occur online, through emails or via text messages. Newer examples including making fake profiles of people on websites or posting embarrassing photos or videos on social media.

colleague Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.

correlation A mutual relationship or connection between two variables. When there is a positive correlation, an increase in one variable is associated with an increase in the other. (For instance, scientists might correlate an increase in time spent watching TV with an increase in rates of obesity.) Where there is an inverse correlation, an increase in one value is associated with a drop in the other. (Scientists might correlate an increase in TV watching with a decrease in time spent exercising each week.) A correlation between two variables does not necessarily mean one is causing the other.

culture (n. in social science) The sum total of typical behaviors and social practices of a related group of people (such as a tribe or nation). Their culture includes their beliefs, values and the symbols that they accept and/or use. Culture is passed on from generation to generation through learning. Scientists once thought culture to be exclusive to humans. Now they recognize some other animals show signs of culture as well, including dolphins and primates.

cyber A prefix that refers to computers or to a type of system in which computerized or online communication occurs.

depression (in medicine) A mental illness characterized by persistent sadness and apathy. Although these feelings can be triggered by events, such as the death of a loved one or the move to a new city, that isn't typically considered an "illness" - unless the symptoms are prolonged and harm an individual's ability to perform normal daily tasks (such as working, sleeping or interacting with others). People suffering from depression often feel they lack the energy needed to get anything done. They may have difficulty concentrating on things or showing an interest in normal events. Many times, these feelings seem to be triggered by nothing; they can appear out of nowhere.

digital (in computer science and engineering) An adjective indicating that something has been developed numerically on a computer or on some other electronic device, based on a binary system (where all numbers are displayed using a series of only zeros and ones).

dynamic An adjective that signifies something is active, changing or moving. (noun) The change or range of variability seen or measured within something.

factor Something that plays a role in a particular condition or event; a contributor.

feedback A process or combination of processes that propel or exaggerate a change in some direction. For instance, as the cover of Arctic ice disappears with global warming, less of the sun's warming energy will be reflected back into space. This will serve to increase the rate of Earth's warming. That warming might trigger some feedback (like sea-ice melting) that fosters additional warming.

internet An electronic communications network. It allows computers anywhere in the world to link into other networks to find information, download files and share data (including pictures).

media (in the social sciences) A term for the ways information is delivered and shared within a society. It encompasses not only the traditional media - newspapers, magazines, radio and television - but also Internet- and smartphone-based outlets, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and more. The newer, digital media are sometimes referred to as social media. The singular form of this term is medium.

network A group of interconnected people or things. (v.) The act of connecting with other people who work in a given area or do similar thing (such as artists, business leaders or medical-support groups), often by going to gatherings where such people would be expected, and then chatting them up. (n. networking)

online (n.) On the internet. (adj.) A term for what can be found or accessed on the internet.

peer (noun) Someone who is an equal, based on age, education, status, training or some other features. (verb) To look into something, searching for details.

perception The state of being aware of something - or the process of becoming aware of something - through use of the senses.

physical (adj.) A term for things that exist in the real world, as opposed to in memories or the imagination. It can also refer to properties of materials that are due to their size and non-chemical interactions (such as when one block slams with force into another).

psychologist A scientist or mental-health professional who studies the human mind, especially in relation to actions and behaviors.

social (adj.) Relating to gatherings of people; a term for animals (or people) that prefer to exist in groups.

social media Internet-based media, such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, that allow people to connect with each other (often anonymously) and to share information.

social network Communities of people (or animals) that are interrelated owing to the way they relate to each other. In humans, this can involve sharing details of their life and interests on Twitter or Facebook, or perhaps belonging to the same sports team, religious group or school.

symptom A physical or mental indicator generally regarded to be characteristic of a disease. Sometimes a single symptom - especially a general one, such as fever or pain - can be a sign of any of many different types of injury or disease.

Alison Pearce Stevens is a former biologist and forever science geek who writes about science and nature for kids. She lives with her husband, their two kids and a small menagerie of cuddly (and not-so cuddly) critters.

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Teens sneak a peek at the internet every chance they get. In fact, the average U.S. teenager spends almost nine hours a day on digital devices. Much of that time is on social media, such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. The sites have become important places for students to interact.

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Newsela

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Newsela | Healthy screen time is one challenge of distance learning

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How you use screens is more important than the amount of time you spend on them. Sit less, experts say, and use those screens mainly to learn and engage with others.

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If you're like any of the Start Digital team then one of the first things you'll do in the morning is check your social feed. Depending on your poison of choice it could be Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Linkedin. Whichever platform we're on, one of the first check points is the 'notification' tab. 'Has anyone liked something of mine'? 'Has anyone tagged me'? Etc etc. It's a habit we quickly get pulled into. It's addictive. Have you ever stopped to wonder why it's so addictive?

That little rush you get when your post gets more likes than normal? There is a reason for that rush. Dopamine. For every thumbs up or heart we get a little psychological high through a shot of dopamine. The more likes the more shots. The more shots we have, the more shots we want. And we're in a loop. Scientists used to think dopamine was responsible for pleasure in the brain, but we now know that rather than create pleasure it makes us seek it.

A recent study on the effect social media likes have on a teenagers brain liken it to winning money or eating chocolate. The study also demonstrated that people are more likely to engage with posts that have been endorsed/liked by a large amount of their peers - a follow the crowd mentality.

The amount of 'likes' we get generally depends on how many friends or followers we have and the mountain of social psychology that's happening behind the scene. If you're looking at the amount of 'likes' you get on a post as a sign of engagement, it's worth knowing the reasons behind your 'likes'. If you can understand the reasons and psychology behind why people 'like' something you may be able to tap into it to increase your following, either on a personal or business level.
Why do we want to be liked?
Facebook introduced their like button in February 2009 - nearly five years after launching. Ironically, Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg didn't 'like it'. History indicates it took nearly two years for the 'like' button to get approval. How did we ever use Facebook without a like button? We all want to be liked right?

As social beings we like to talk about ourselves. A lot. Either directly or indirectly. More studies indicate we talk about ourselves nearly 40% of the time! When we start using our keyboard to talk this figure jumps to around 80%.

Why? Face to face communication is quick and occasionally awkward. We don't have time to think of the words before they're leaving our mouth. We speak from experience here. Talking online gives us time to think and words can be carefully selected to present yourself in the best possible light. The online space is something we can control.

We share our thoughts and interests primarily because we want to stay connected with the people we care about but also because we want to give others an idea of who we are. If our friends and followers like our posts we feel good. The more likes, the more dopamine, the better we feel.

In January 2017 The New Statesman wrote an article on social media likes. Tellingly one quote stands out:
"Likes are always an indicator of social standing, at my age," says an anonymous 17-year-old survey respondent. "As someone who gets anxious and occasionally struggles with self-esteem, the amount of Likes on my posts can be both hugely uplifting or depressing."
Scary? Yep.
Why likes are good for business
Understanding the power of likes on a personal level is different from scoring likes as a business.

We've covered why it's important for businesses to create engaging content on this site before but why are social likes important for business? Do they increase revenue, boost engagement or build the company?

Well, yes and sometimes no.

We've recently noticed a brand called 'Allbirds' pop up in our Facebook feed. They're a brand of sneakers out of the States. They turned up as a sponsored post likely because we're sneaker freaks. Up until two weeks ago we'd never heard of them. They look great and we're interested enough to follow their Facebook page but not interested enough to buy a pair. Yet. There is a whole social media dance that needs to happen before any money changes hands.

So why is our 'Like' good business for Allbirds? Well, aside from the fact that we will buy a pair in the not too distant future, our little thumbs up also has the potential to notify our 500 friends that we like Allbirds. A handful of these may in turn like the Allbirds page. The links continue.

Likes are great for brand awareness but don't expect them to convert to jumps in revenue - unless you're doing something really special and unique! From other studies (there have been a lot!) we know that conversions from a social like to a sale are very low. Why is this? We suspect it's because firstly, liking something is easy and frictionless and secondly, we're savvy to advertising and we need to build trust with a brand before handing over hard earned dollars.

In summary social media for business is a long term play. Launching a new page and expecting sales to start is not the best marketing strategy. More, social marketing should align with your broader marketing strategies. These could be Google AdWords, organic SEO, remarketing or more traditional print based methods. Social media is a cog in the machine
Wrapping up
In putting a picture or comment on social media you're opening yourself or your business up to judgement. You're making yourself vulnerable to the thoughts of others. If the post doesn't elicit the reaction you'd hoped for it can hurt. As individuals and businesses alike we're seeking approval from our peers. When we get the approval everything hums. We feel good - everyone, including businesses, get a little dopamine hit. It's why we keep going back for more.

And more.

It's also the reason why social media isn't going anywhere soon.

If you'd like more information about our social media services drop us a line today.
This article was originally created and written for Start Digital on 28/11/2017

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The psychology of being 'liked' on social media

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If you're like any of the Start Digital team then one of the first things you'll do in the morning is check your social feed. Depending on your poison of choice it could be Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Linkedin. Whichever platform we're on, one of the first check points is the 'notification' tab.

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Newsela | Opinion: Teens are more anxious than ever: Is social media to blame?

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Social media is relatively new, but today's teens have been around it their whole lives. Everyone's life looks perfect on Facebook and Instagram, which makes for a lot of anxiety among the young.

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Harvard grad

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How parents can help their kids navigate the pressures of their digital lives - without pulling the plug on the positives

As adults witness the rising tides of teenaged anxiety, it's tough not to notice a common thread that runs through the epidemic - something that past generations never dealt with. Clutched in the hand of nearly every teen is a smartphone, buzzing and beeping and blinking with social media notifications.

Parents, all too often, just want to grab their teen's phone and stuff it in a drawer. But is social media and the omnipresence of digital interactions really the cause of all this anxiety?

The short answer is: It's complicated.

Recent studies have noted a significant uptick in depression and suicidal thoughts over the past several years for teens, especially those who spend multiple hours a day using screens, and especially girls. But many of the pressures teenagers feel from social media are actually consistent with developmentally normal concerns around social standing and self-expression. Social media can certainly exacerbate these anxieties, but for parents to truly help their children cope, they should avoid making a blanket condemnation. Instead, parents should tailor their approach to the individual, learning where a particular child's stressors lie and how that child can best gain control of this alluring, powerful way to connect with peers.

Many of the pressures teenagers feel from social media are actually consistent with developmentally normal concerns around social standing and self-expression.

A Link Between Social Media and Mental Health Concerns

Many experts have described a rise in sleeplessness, loneliness, worry, and dependence among teenagers - a rise that coincides with the release of the first iPhone 10 years ago. One study found that 48 percent of teens who spend five hours per day on an electronic device have at least one suicide risk factor, compared to 33 percent of teens who spend two hours a day on an electronic device. We've all heard anecdotes, too, of teens being reduced to tears from the constant communication and comparisons that social media invites.

Through likes and follows, teens are "getting actual data on how much people like them and their appearance," says Lindsey Giller, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute who specializes in youth and young adults with mood disorders. "And you're not having any break from that technology." She's seen teens with anxiety, poor self-esteem, insecurity, and sadness attributed, at least in part, to constant social media use.

Teenage Challenges and Stressors, Exacerbated

But the connection between anxiety and social media might not be simple, or purely negative. Correlation does not equal causation; it may be that depression and anxiety lead to more social media use, for example, rather than the other way around. There could also be an unknown third variable - for instance, academic pressures or economic concerns - connecting them, or teens could simply be more likely to admit to mental health concerns now than they were in previous generations.

It's also important to remember that teens experience social media in a wide range of ways. The ability to raise awareness, connect with people across the world, and share moments of beauty can be empowering and uplifting for some. And many teens understand that the images they see are curated snapshots, not real-life indicators, and are less likely to let those posts make them feel insecure about their own lives.

Above all, says researcher Emily Weinstein, who studies teens and their social media habits, parents need to keep in mind that it's probably not just social media that's making their teens anxious - it's the normal social stressors that these platforms facilitate, albeit at a different size and scale.

In the same way that different teenagers need different types of social support from their parents, they need different types of digital support, as well. If your teen seems irritable or overwhelmed by social media, pay attention to what specifically is causing those feelings.

"So many of the behaviors we're talking about have pre-digital corollaries," says Weinstein, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. "They're the same sort of developmental challenges that adolescents have grappled with for decades, though now they're taking place in different spaces that can certainly amplify them and shift their quality, quantity, and scale.

"But the idea of wanting to fit in, the critical importance of peer relationships, and the process of figuring out which version of yourself you want to be and how you want to express that identity to others - those features of adolescence are not new."

What's Triggering about Social Media?

Youth and technology expert Amanda Lenhart's 2015 Pew study of teens, technology, and friendships reveals a range of social media-induced stressors:

Seeing people posting about events to which you haven't been invited

Feeling pressure to post positive and attractive content about yourself

Feeling pressure to get comments and likes on your posts

Having someone post things about you that you cannot change or control

In analyses of thousands of adolescents' reactions to digital stressors, Weinstein and her colleagues have found even more challenges:

Feeling replaceable: If you don't respond to a best friend's picture quickly or effusively enough, will she find a better friend?

Too much communication: A boyfriend or girlfriend wants you to be texting far more often than you're comfortable with.

Digital "FOMO": If you're not up-to-date on the latest social media posts, will it prevent you from feeling like you can participate in real-life conversations at school the next day?

Attachment to actual devices: If your phone is out of reach, will your privacy be invaded? Will you miss a message from a friend when he needs you?

For Parents, Strategies on Mitigating Anxiety - Without Overreacting

With so many different stressors, a key piece of advice for parents is to individualize your approach. In the same way that different teenagers need different types of social support from their parents, they need different types of digital support, as well. Weinstein suggests that if your teen seems irritable or overwhelmed by social media, pay attention to what specifically is causing those feelings.

Giller agrees. "Really check in with your teen about what's going on," she says. Parents can and should help support and problem-solve with their teen, but they should also offer validation about how difficult these situations can be.

Don't just take your teen's phone away if you suspect drama. In most situations, it's best to work with your teen around social media expectations.

Relatedly, don't just take your teen's phone away if you suspect drama. Doing so won't get to the heart of the social issue at play - and it could potentially make your teen more upset by separating her from her friends and other aspects of digital media she enjoys.

However, as a family, you can also set screen-free times - whether it's every evening after 9 p.m., on the car ride to school, an occasional screen-free weekend, or longer stretches over vacations and camps. "Many teens say they appreciate" these chances, says education writer Anya Kamenetz, whose upcoming book The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life explores these issues in-depth.

A significant part of your teen's phone habits may be related to her parents, too. " Be good role models in your own use of tech," advises Kamenetz. That means being mindful of your own distracted habit of reaching for your cell, but it also means rejecting the isolation that screen time can generate. Make digital media an opportunity for real-life social opportunities, she says. Share some media activities with your teenager - playing games, watching YouTube clips, or reading up on mutual interests together.

And in most situations, it's best to work with your teen to set social media expectations. "You want to build consensus and get their buy-in," says Kamenetz. Constant surveillance or control won't build trust. Make it an open, mutual discussion.

You want to get teens to put their devices down on their own, says Weinstein, "so that you're helping them build their ability to manage their interactions with and through technology." And that's increasingly looking like a key life skill that we'll all need to develop, now and into the future.

Illustration: Wilhelmina Peragine
We're in a moment where anxiety is running rampant, spreading like an epidemic among adolescents. What can we do? In a series of pieces, we look at how to help teenagers face their fears, build resilience, and grapple with the pressure to achieve - on the road to college and beyond. Read more at What Do Anxious Teens Need?

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How parents can help their kids navigate the pressures of their digital lives - without pulling the plug on the positives As adults witness the rising tides of teenaged anxiety, it's tough not to notice a common thread that runs through the epidemic - something that past generations never dealt with.

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BBC

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Why are we all so desperate for instagram likes? | Addicted to... Likes - BBC