Why do you use social media?

In 2019 is was expected that 2.77 billion people worldwide would be social media users. In 2017, 71% of internet users worldwide were social network users. In Australia, 46% of social media users use Instagram. And Snapchat alone almost doubled its usage from 22% to 40% in 2018. Why are these social media platforms becoming so popular? And more importantly… Why are we using them?

Think about it, if you have social media, why do you use it? It seems like such a simple question, but there are multiple reasons that we may not even realise to explain why people all around the globe use social media.

People participate in social media for 2 main reason; Rationality and Emotion. Rationality motives include entertainment and information, where as emotion motives targets social community.

The entertainment side to social media is seen through the ability to engage in entertainment events, watch videos, play games and follow celebs, bloggers or social media personalities. Comment what entertains you on social media?!

In regards to information this is seen as a source knowledge sharing, gaining and advocacy. We may not realise but we intake tones of information by just scrolling through instagram for 10 minutes. Information regarding:

• Research for future purchases
• Service and products reviews
• Brands reviews and details
• Event details
• News and current events can all be obtained though the use of social media.

The emotional side to why people use social media explains the importance of social communities, and the more personal aspects to social media use. Social media allows people to connect, share and chat with their friends and family from all around the world. Personally social media has allowed me to contact family members from the other side of the world, and interact in an easy and FREE way! The ability to share photos and videos allows people to express themselves and share their insights. Building social communities is a very popular aspect to the more emotional part of social media, as we have the ability to connect and meet people from all around the globe!

In just the past 5 years we have seen an increase in the usage of social media worldwide. Reasons to use social media depend on the individuals and what they want out of the many social media platforms out.

For me, social media mainly allows me to be apart of social communities and gaining information. So, tell me…why do you use social media?