Thursday, October 11, 2012

Is "liking" a status prosocial?

I'm at the prosocial conference right now preparing my talk tomorrow on prosocial media. I had a thought while preparing.....I recently posted a picture of me after I ran a 5k. Not a huge deal, but was good for me. Within a few hours I had 68 people "like" me and 18 comments saying how awesome I was. Which obviously made me feel pretty good, much better than when I post something and nobody likes it or comments on the post (ostracism? I'm not sure).



So I was thinking, is this a form of prosocial behavior in the media? I think commenting certainly is...well, when the comments are nice and complimentary. But is "liking" something prosocial? Am I being a nice to someone when I like their status? Am I saying that I like them or their behavior? Is this beneficial to the person who posted something? I may be off the map here, but I think there is something psychologically beneficial about saying something and 68 people immediately saying they like it. More importantly, they are saying this in public. What do you think? How do feel when someone either likes or doesn't like your facebook staus? Comments or doesn't comment?

I miss you guys! I hope you enjoyed Miss-representation today, it's one of my very favorites! Can't wait to discuss it with you on class on Tuesday!
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3 comments:

  1. Kaylee and ClarkOctober 12, 2012 at 9:33 AM

    This is a really interesting idea to think about, if liking something is prosocial. I actually think it really is. My dad likes EVERYTHING of mine on facebook and I love it because it lets me know he is my biggest fan in life. When someone likes something I put up that doesn't usually like my things it honestly really makes me happy. ... I actually kind of think that is why people post things on social media sights. They want responses or likes or whatever. They put it out there in the public to get some type of reaction from people. I think those who respond are being prosocial. I think there are many who just look and think whatever but those who actually make an effort to respond or like something are in some form trying to make that person happy.

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  2. NattyOctober 15, 2012 at 9:11 AM

    I would say that "liking" a status is a prosocial behavior. But, on the range of prosocial behavior, "liking" a status is probably on the lower end of effectiveness. I am horrible at commenting on things on facebook, but I am way more likely to "like" a status if I think it is awesome. I don't know, it is an interesting thought.

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  3. IsabelOctober 15, 2012 at 5:03 PM

    I definitely think it could be considered a prosocial behavior. I always feel great when I post a photo or status and people like it, Sometimes I even interpret it as them agreeing with what I'm saying. I like people's things often and usually feel like I mean it as a compliment or congratulations.

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