Although this article is not recent, I believe that the subject pertains to our class discussions on the influence of media. Facebook is arguably the most popular social networking website in the world and I am among its loyal users. Facebook conducted a study that altered the post types that would appear on their news feeds to be either primarily positive or negative. What they found is that those who were exposed to more negative posts would post begin to post more negative things on their wall. The same results were found from those who were exposed to more positive posts. Could it be possible that our moods can be altered by what types of posts we see from our friends? The authors of the article believe that "emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness," Another interesting thing to think about it how we represent ourselves on social media. I find it is easy to think that other people have better lives than you because they are primarily only posting from the highlights of their life. I rarely see negative posts on my feed and I try to keep mine happy as well. Then again, maybe facebook is hiding the negative ones... Something to consider! Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-study-emotional-states-transfer-2014-6#ixzz3cVBCQ139
Kaitlyn, I loved the fact that you used Facebook as a perfect example for media. It is indeed a great example of what media can do, specially to it users. Yes, Facebook did a study recently where it's users experience different outcomes depending on their likes and dislikes while on their Facebook page. This is such a true statement, I did and experiment on my previous Emerging Media class regarding what happens when you click on the like button and what happens if you simply ignore all the post on your Facebook page for a week. My findings were unbelievable. I stopped clicking on the like button for a week and after a week my Facebook page simply slow down and most of the postings I was not appreciating stopped. Interestingly enough, my other classmates did the opposite and clicked on the like button for everything being posted and they got bombarded by unwanted postings on their Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteWe are connected. We all affect one another. what we say is hurled out into the world at a much faster rate of speed now. we must remember that our energy negative and positive has an echoing effect.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that the content you see on your newsfeed can change your mood/behavior, especially if you use Facebook on a regular basis. Even though it is a form of social media, you can still convey mood and tone, and therefore their effects. I remember reading an article a while back that actually theorized that seeing too many positive posts can affect users negatively. As you said, "they are primarily only posting from the highlights of their life." This is exactly the problem. Imagine if you checked Facebook once an hour (or more), and all you saw were the accomplishments. Even though that's great for those people, if you're going through a hard time in life it now seems as though everyone's lives are perfect (even though this obviously isn't the case). It would be interesting to see how many people would be affected in this way.
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