Last May I decided to take a picture of myself in every mirror I saw. There is no specific reason that I wanted to do this, but I thought it could be fun to see the result. After a few months, I looked at the photo series and selected the ‘best pictures’. I decided to share the photo series with my friends on Instagram. The weekend after I posted the photo series, I was walking the dog with my mother and told her I finally posted the photo series and showed her the pictures. She was enthusiastic about the photos but was also somewhat confused and asked me: “But why exactly do you feel like posting this on Instagram?”. I did not really know what to answer her question and started to think about the fact that many of us feel like sharing our whole life on, in this case, Instagram. But why?
Research has shown that there are plenty of reasons and motivations for sharing content on Instagram. These reasons also go together with the number of followers and numbers of followings and age.[1] Among others within the psychology field, there has been done research on why we share things on social media. The four main reasons that are being discussed by Rosalyn Ransaw are to convey our identity, to nurture relationships, and lastly to feel a sense of belonging.[2]
First, we share things on social media to convey our identity. We feel like sharing stuff that shows a part of our identity to the world.[3] This can be a combination of who we really are and who we want to be. For example, I share a music video to show people I have a great taste in music.
Next to this, we also share on Instagram to nurture our relationships. Before digitalization, we already wanted to nurture our relationships, but this was being done in other ways, such as sending postcards or analog photographs. Nowadays, we can nurture our relationships online all day by sharing stuff or contacting people in for example personal messages or with comments. If we think about this in relation to for example the last two years during COVID it becomes clear that online contact with our friends and family was so important.
“Nearly 90% of youth surveyed say social media was either “very” or “somewhat” important in staying connected to family and friends during the pandemic.”[4]
Lastly, people sometimes share things on the internet to feel a sense of belonging. In fact, these likes, and comments are a form of feedback on the things we post and share. If we post something, we want people to like or comment on it. This has positive effects on our self-esteem and sense of well-being.[5]
To come back to my own photo series that I shared on Instagram, I can find myself in some of these motivations to share on social media. First, I think I felt like sharing this on social media to show my followers a part of who I am. This can be seen in the fact that I created the photo series, but also in the clothes I am wearing. I might have posted the photo series to show people I have creative ideas for what to share and I have a good style of clothing. Also, I share on social media because I want to show my friends and family what I am doing in my life and to let them know I am alright. Next to that, I think I unconsciously share things on social media to get positive feedback and thus to feel a sense of belonging. However, I am not consciously aware of the fact I share things for this reason at the moment of sharing.
To conclude, there are far more reasons to share on social media, but also other aspects to keep in mind when discussing this subject. This differs per photo (series), the moment of sharing, per number of followers, and per person among others.
[1] Instagram This! Sharing Photos on Instagram, 132. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-27974-9.pdf
[2] “The Psychology Behind Why We Share on Social Media,” Shutterstock, accessed November 14, 2021, https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/the-psychology-behind-why-we-share-on-social-media.
[3] “The Psychology Behind Why We Share on Social Media,” Shutterstock, accessed November 14, 2021, https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/the-psychology-behind-why-we-share-on-social-media.
[4] “The Psychology Behind Why We Share on Social Media,” Shutterstock, accessed November 14, 2021, https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/the-psychology-behind-why-we-share-on-social-media.
[5] “The Psychology Behind Why We Share on Social Media,” Shutterstock, accessed November 14, 2021, https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/the-psychology-behind-why-we-share-on-social-media.
I don’t use Instagram, to be honest, but basically, I replace that by constantly spamming my friends with whatever I want to share. Not sure if there is a difference but I feel like it’s more personal. Probalby just lying to myself, but hey, if ain’t broke…