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Why do people like their own social media posts?

Liking Your Own Post Meme
Liking Your Own Post Meme

Top 3 Reasons Why People Like Their Own Posts

They say on average, Canadians spend roughly three to fours a day online.  A big component of that is people’s social media use.  One of the biggest pet peeves I have about social media is that people like their own posts.  I see it all the time, most notably on Facebook and Instagram.  What is the point of that? What do you benefit from doing that?  Do you not realize what a tool that makes you look?

Today I’m going to highlight three reasons why I believe people have no problem liking their social posts without hesitation.  There needs to be more articles about this, because this is a topic that not too many seem to talk about, yet it exists out there!

Someone liking their own status message
Really Patricia…really?

They want to increase their vanity metrics

Whenever I am scrolling through my social feeds, I’ll see someone on my friends’ post be the first person to like their own content.  Wow, you just added one like to your post, congratulations 👏🏻.  In non earth-shattering news, to me this is viewed as a cheap attempt to boost yourself for all the wrong reasons.

Yes, I know you are the author of the post, that’s why I’m following you in the first place.  But when you hit your own FB ‘Like’ or IG heart icon button, you are simply just elevating your vanity metrics.  A vanity metric is simply a worthless feel good stat, that does nothing to grow your business.  You might think it is adding value by having x amount of likes to validate your post.  In reality, this is truly devaluing your post because you thought having more likes would make your content more appealing.

Someone liking their own FB status
Thanks for letting me know, Shawn.

Can seed potential engagement with your audience

So, here’s the scenario.  You’re about to publish your post and hit the post button.  You’re reviewing the text you included.  You checked properly for all the tagged people’s names and included the right location as well.  The post goes then goes live and you sit there, watching the seconds and minutes pass by.  That moment of anticipation…or no participation starts to trigger you.  “Will anyone like my post?” You say to yourself, “I know people just scrolled right passed by it…this is the Internet, we see everything right!?”

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Two tales of social media infamy

Social Media Infamy
Jessie Smollet and Marcella Zoia made headlines this month for all the wrong reasons.

This month we saw two really interesting headlines that were connected to social media. The first being a local news story for my fellow Torontonians and the other featuring a celebrity actor trying to make a bigger name for himself. The question I have to ask…is social media infamy worth it?

Jessie Smollet
Jessie Smollet was arrested February 21, 2019 on suspicion of filing a false report.

Dumb and Dumber.

First off, you have Empire actor Jessie Smollet, who last month staged his own racially driven assault in the late hours of downtown Chicago, only for it to unfold before his very eyes. It turns out this clown hired two men and rehearsed the robbery with them. Phone records were traced, while eye witness accounts were given.  All in the sake of what, trying to gain some notoriety and grow your name out in Hollywood?

Originally the public sympathized and felt sorry for the 36-year-old actor.  But as the story started to gain more traction, Smollet’s account in this matter started to become suspicious.  Hence Jesse went from being a victim to now becoming a laughing stock of the television and film industry.  This should be a lesson to those who want to make it big in the entertainment business, that there are no shortcuts in this game and people will out you for trying to.

The  chair toss heard around the GTA.

Secondly you have Chair Girl aka Marcella Zoia, who seems to crave the spotlight.  In what seemed like a really funny video that would eventually go viral, has now turned into a disgraceful sign of embarrassment.  Where is her common sense?  Sure, she is only 19-years-old and is probably doing what most young teenagers do, get into foolish behaviour.  But this is one of these circumstances where trying to be popular and getting a rise out of your friends becomes dangerous.  Luckily, the chair she threw that day off that condo balcony did not seriously injure a pedestrian or a driver on the road.

What we have learned from a story like Chair Girl is that everyone can get their 15 minutes of fame and can either A) grow into a larger attraction or B) fall into obscurity and become yesterday’s news.  Zoia’s story is definitely of negative light, but her youthful, rebellious attitude could blossom her into  a larger story.  News outlets will be glued to her in the upcoming months.  Personally, I think people will be fascinated with her and what she does next.  Her social media following has grown exponentially since she made headlines and will continue to rise once this is all said and done.

Real Talk.

In regards to social media use, sometimes we have to ask ourselves, do we know what we’re really doing?  We all have social accounts, it’s up to all of us in how we portray ourselves online.  Our close friends have an idea of who we really are, but there will be others on the outside who have no clue who we are. These people could be employers, someone trying to date you, stalkers and so on.  What they search about you online, ultimately gives them a different opinion.

Jessie Smollet and Marcella Zoia both become trending digital topics this month based on their mindless actions.  Perhaps Smollet thought he could stage his own hate crime that would garner public sympathy and boost his stock in Tinseltown.  This looks like it could backfire in the long run for him. As for Chair Girl’s case, she’s just a young adult living her best life.  But truth be told, she might have stumbled onto a potential goldmine opportunity.  Don’t believe me?  Just Google Bhad Bhabie.

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Three shows that that were hot topics on social media in January 2019

R. Kelly, Fyre Festival, You Netflix
Surviving R. Kelly, Fyre Festival, You Netflix

In the month of January, where cold Canadian winters and holiday credit card bills come in, the best thing to do is stay indoors.  It’s up to you what you want to do. 

You can play video games. You can catch up on some good reads. You can watch a variety of programs on your streaming devices. Or you can simply just fornicate 😍. 

If you choose to consume some content into February, here are three recommended shows you should watch that had social media buzzing.

Surviving R. Kelly

R. Kelly is a monster.

Legendary R&B singer R. Kelly’s controversial docuseries kicked off 2019 with a bang.  Surviving R. Kelly was executive produced by filmmaker and music critic Dream Hampton.  The docuseries revisited Kelly’s infamous history of having sexual relations with minors. 

Multiple victims including his own wife were interviewed, sharing their traumatic accounts with the ‘Pied Piper.’  The three-time Grammy winner’s scandalous past were brought up from stories as old as 25 years ago.  Most notably his marriage to the late Aaliyah, who was of under age at the time. 

Despite being cleared in 2008 on child pornography charges, Kelly still found himself in hot water repeating his sexual behaviour.  It is believed that he is currently running a sex cult on his properties and holding women captive.

Trailer for Surviving R. Kelly

The three-night, six-hour series debuted on January 3 and averaged 2.1 million viewers on the Lifetime channel. The bigger story came out of all of this was the impact it had on social. It was a trending topic (#MuteRKelly) that led to many R. Kelly collaborators distancing themselves from the disgraced singer. RCA Records, his long-time record label recently dropped him.

Public opinion has waned on the 52-year-old, who plans to pursue legal action against the creators of the docuseries. But the jury is out, R. Kelly’s once wholesome image is more tarnished than ever. Had social media been more prevalent in the early 2000’s around the time his child pornography charges became headlines, his career could have been derailed back then as well.

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