Yesterday's post, Is Facebook an antidepressant?, prompted some discussion online, and amongst the team here at FreshNetworks, about how people behave on social networks. Do people tell the truth in social networks and if not, does that matter?
If you think of your own use of social networks, or spend just a few minutes perusing somebody else's profile, the answer to this question will come very quickly. It's 'no'. We don't tell the truth in social networks. This isn't to say that we lie, or mislead people, it's just that we are selective about what we say or reveal about ourselves. We may exaggerate some elements of our lives and play down others. We may choose to show some pictures, but not others. Social networks are a 'me' space, they become a place where we market ourselves, our own personal brand. It's not surprising that in this kind of space we might be selective about what we say, and present a version of ourselves that we want people to see.
We don't tell the truth in social networks, but this doesn't mean we lie. There is a whole spectrum of 'untruths' from selectively updating your status, through over-emphasising elements you choose (and under-emphasising others) to plain untruths (saying you enjoy reading Magical Realism, when really your favourite book is a trashy biography). We do this because we want to present ourselves in a way that we want others to see us. Online there is a real opportunity to build the personal brand, and so we are all becoming marketers - marketing ourselves.
So does this actually matter? Should we all try to be truthful and accurate in social networks. The truth is that it probably doesn't. Whilst social networks are being used as networks of individuals, we are all doing the same thing - we know we don't upload all photos (probably not those from that party, for example) and so will expect others to act in the same way. The problem comes when brands and individuals interact in this space.
Many brands treat social networks as a source of free market research. They look at what people say and use this to inform their understanding of their product, customer-base, competitors or market. This can be useful, but as with all market research it is important to acknowledge and understand the bias in this method. And the bias here is that social network encourage people to be selective with the truth (at best) or to tell untruths. This can make it very difficult to gain real insight from social networks.
What is interesting is that you don't get the same experience in online communities - these are spaces about 'us' rather than 'me' and a different social dynamic is at play. This is why online communities (and in particular online research communities) can be more useful to brands. More on this tomorrow...
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Some more reading
- When *not* to social network
- Not all social networking sites are created equally
- Facebook Reaches 150 Million Users Worldwide
- Marketing on the Web: How to Profit From Social Networking
- Is Facebook a digital antidepressant?
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