Why do friends and family members like certain posts and don’t comment on others? Have you ever wondered what people really like on Facebook?
If you’re like me, you probably post often and then wonder why people “like” or don’t acknowledge certain posts. It’s been a source of curiosity for me for the past few years. So in conjunction with HJMT Public Relations, I decided to poll our social communities.
Our first question was, “do you post on Facebook?” There are many people on Facebook who don’t post at all while others seem to post multiple times a day. Of the nearly 200 people surveyed, 65% said they only post when they have something important to say. Only 10% said they post every day and nearly 20% said they don’t post at all.
Of those who use Facebook, 78% said they “like” something when they see a friend or family member’s accomplishment. This was followed by 53% saying that inspiration makes them “like” a status update. Surprisingly, only 23% said they “like” a post that has a baby, pet or selfie in it. I found this interesting because it contradicts what many people have said for years. Humor was another factor in what someone liked.
Once you comment on a post on Facebook, you get notifications every time someone responds to the post. Our question was, “do you continue to read the thread or do you stop the notifications.”
Interestingly there was a split in whether or not people continued to follow the thread. More than 40% said they enjoyed reading the thread, while nearly 40% said they get out of the conversation once they post. Many people said it depended on what the post was about.
One of the responders said, “It totally depends on how engaged I am. For example, congratulations posts never require additional reading. Advice seeking posts often make for good follow up reads to see what others have suggested.”
There was a three-way tie when it came to what type of post interested most people. Seventy percent said a well-written post, an informative post and a humorous post interested them. Many people said that personal posts interest them while others said a post that they don’t agree with was one that they were interested in.
Sixty-eight percent said they would comment on a post to encourage or congratulate someone. Many said they would comment on a post if they disagree and want their point to be heard. After encouraging their friends, 61% said they would comment to make a witty comment or joke on a post.
When people put up blogs and their friends like the blog, 85% said they read the blog first before “liking” the blog on Facebook.
How about tagging? Nearly 65% of the people say they don’t like to be tagged, especially in a post that has nothing to do with them.
When reading the newsfeed on Facebook how does it make you feel? There’s been a lot of talk about the subject and many would say that Facebook tends to make people sad. However, the majority of the people who responded have various comments ranging from lonely or bored to indifferent and neutral. Sad was not even a factor.
When asked why it makes you feel this way, there was a range of answers including:
- “I have too many friends at this point. They’ve gathered over the years and I don’t know about 80% of the people I’m friends with. So my newsfeed is just full of things I don’t really care about.”
- “I look at Facebook when I’m bored.”
- “Sometimes I see some stupid news articles, or sometimes I see something a friend has achieved, one makes me feel bad, the other is a nice thing to see.”
- “I read my feed with grain of salt. It’s a bizarre representation of people’s actual lives.”
- “Too many of my friends post links and memes instead of posting about their lives.”
- “I’ve unfollowed updates from almost everyone, since it’s either boring or stupid. So basically all I see are updates from 5-6 friends, bands, or sports news sites.”
If someone posts things that annoy or you disagree with, nearly 50% said they would unfollow the person.
One of the respondents said, “I start out by debating or correcting factual errors in specific posts; if the person persists in posting the same misleading or inaccurate information despite links and other evidence to the contrary, I will unsubscribe to further activity on the thread. If a person keeps posting memes and other worthless content I hide these. If a person engages in ad hominem attacks or threats, I block that person.”
So what does this all mean? People want to see posts that are personal and meaningful. They generally don’t want to hear about things that are irrelevant to them. Facebook is a place to disseminate information whether personal, news related or opinion-based. People want to be helpful and congratulate their friends and provide relevant feedback to questions and items of interest. Above all, Facebook is very personalized to the user giving each person control over their experiences by what they comment on, who they block and the things they like.
