Insights, commentary and news

A friend of mine recently told me that his 17-year-old son had decided not to open a new Instagram account after his account had been hacked. I asked why. She told me he noticed he had started feeling better about himself without it. That got me thinking and I started to read about it. There have been a few articles recently about social media fueling feelings of loneliness, sadness and even depression. Looking at the lives of others on social media often nourishes the thought that others live more interesting and successful lives than we do. 

But do they? Really?

In the late 1950s, the theory of impressions management established that people have a tendency (conscious or subconscious) to attempt to influence the perceptions of others by regulating and controlling information in social interactions. More recently, research confirmed that people tend to stage their social media postings, focusing on curated, flattering, socially desirable content[1]. Exposure to this content often triggers an “envy spiral,” which encourages self-promotion as a reaction to viewing other people’ self-promoting posts, causing “the world on social media to get further and further from reality.” Examples abound.

Consider these few offered by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Reveals About Who We Really Are, recently featured in The New York Times and on NPR. He writes, “The National Enquirer, sells three times as many copies as The Atlantic every year. Yet, The Atlantic is 45 times more popular on Facebook. […] Owners of luxury cars like BMWs and Mercedes are about two and a half times as likely to announce their affiliation on Facebook as are owners of ordinary makes and models.”[2] 

As an experiment, Stephens-Davidowitz compared the top five descriptors to complete the phrase: “My husband is …” on social media vs. on Google. Results are interesting.

Top five descriptors include “My husband is …”

Social media

• The best
• My best friend
• Amazing
• The greatest
• So cute
• Google search
• Amazing
• A jerk
• Annoying
• Gay
• Mean

So what does this mean for research?

Consumers’ tendencies to selectively choose the content they post on social media and paint the image they want others to have of them has important implications for market research and insight community professionals. Social media listening has become a widespread practice in our community[3]; it is one of the many tools researchers commonly rely on to learn about consumers. We love this constantly renewed fountain of data straight from the mouth of the consumer. But, we should be cautious when interpreting this content. It should not be seen as a window into who consumers actually are, how they spend their time, the magazines they read or the brands they buy. Rather, it should be seen as a window into how people want to be perceived.

Insight professionals should stop themselves from making quick assumptions the next time they monitor social media content to gain insight into consumers. They should step back and consider that they are looking at an image the consumer wants to project, not reality. 

[1]“Selfie-Loathing;” Slate.com; July 23, 2013

[2]“Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable;” The New York Times; May 6, 2017

[3] In 2014, already over 60 percent of marketers used social media analytics tools. (“Marketers Adopt Social Media Analytics Tools”, eMarketer, March 4, 2014.)