Seven Biggest Reasons Why People Love to Share Social Media Contents

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social-media-stats

Here is the situation: you have published something good on social media. Few moments later, you noticed that even though no one clicked the link, two people have favourited it and someone retweeted it.

There are many reasons why this happens. Some are very reasonable, and some require further explanation. It could be that someone read the content previously and your tweet was a cue to pass it along. Maybe someone favourited the tweet as a reminder to come back and read it later. Still, there are something more could be going on.

The truth is that a lot of people forward along something that looks like it might be interesting without reading it. Here are seven biggest reasons that make people want to share an article, video, or infographic with their friends.

  1. Social capital. It’s all about your authority and identity from your social group. Also, associating yourself with valuable content is a way to earn status and recognition.
  2. Memorability. It’s much more like a ‘charisma’. Does it stay with you? Does the content connect with you on a personal level?
  3. Practical value. Does it help others? Does it enrich the lives of others? Does it help solve a problem?
  4. Quality. Is it a good story? Does it elicit an emotional response?
  5. Anchoring. Does it relate to your community or organization directly? Forwarding along this content isn’t just self-promotional, it also reinforces your personal brand, as you’re tying yourself to something with an established identity.
  6. Reciprocity. If someone interacts with you, it’s more likely that you’ll interact with them. That includes sharing content, so if you like, favorite, retweet, etc. someone’s post, they may do the same for you. And on Facebook, these interactions even make it more likely that another person will see your next update.
  7. Self-esteem. Does sharing this content somehow make you feel better about yourself or increase your self-perception? Being tied to a charitable cause, to inspirational content, or “passing it forward” helps others, but it also helps you feel good about yourself.