The Reasons We Need/Use Social Media Sites

Today seemed like the perfect day to do this post. With many of my Facebook applications again having issues, I don’t have to worry about missing something. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? Missing something on Facebook. Isn’t it amazing that so many of us spend hours every week doing things and playing games on sites like this. Why do we do it?

I think for many people, the games played and connections made on social media sites give people a distraction from their everyday lives. Sometimes people have so much on the go or so much else to think/worry about that maybe we all need to just clear our minds and playing these games or interacting on these sites allows us to do that. It is not much different than watching TV or becoming immersed in a hobby is it?.

For many users it is a way to procrastinate from the things in real life that we need to do. Everyone is a procrastinator aren’t they? Why should we do now what can be put off until tomorrow? Social media sites give us a way to keep busy without looking after the real things that need to be done. Everyone works better when that deadline is closer anyway…don’t they?

People also like to be acknowledged. Even when they are just people we have no contact with other than on social media sites. Everyone likes to have their statuses commented on. It makes us feel that others are paying attention to us. Retweeting our tweets makes us feel that we have something important to say. People like that feeling…even if it is just online.

We all like to feel we belong. Being alone sucks. But being connected online gives us a feeling of belonging to something. We can find people with the same interests or problems. We join groups and follow topics as part of a social group. We love that feeling of belonging to something.

Many use social networks as a way of assuring themselves that their decisions are the right ones. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you connect with. You can ask the social-sphere to help with a problem you have knowing what you think is the right thing to do. Asking for that assurance makes you feel better about your decision…the problem is that you don’t know many of the people you ask those assurances from so they don’t know the whole story.

My final idea of why people flock to social media is the anonymity of it all. Many people can be who they want to be. People can post whatever picture they want. They never have to show people who they really are even if they are interacting within their social media of choice. Many people choose not to show their picture or share any part of who they really are. While going against the true meaning of social media, it is their choice albeit not one I agree with. I dislike people who want to be a part of social media sites but who don’t share anything including their picture. People who use fake names don’t have any part in joining social media sites in my opinion.. The other thing with the anonymity is many use this mask as a way of striking out at others. They are online and have hidden who they really are so they can say what they want without repercussions. What goes around, comes around!

So why do you involve yourself with social media sites? Leave me a comment and let me know why?