Are your Facebook Likes making a difference?
While the real-world impact of “liking” a social cause on Facebook is up for debate, people who do it at least feel like they’re making a difference and helping spread the word.
This is according to a new study which shows that Facebook users who “like” statuses are motivated by a genuine desire to raise support or awareness for the cause they’re liking.
The study revolved around a survey which was conducted by Scandinavian research organization SINTEF in Oslo, Norway, looking at 405 Facebook users and interrogating their Facebook liking habits.
According to the paper’s authors, the results showed that social motives and an emotional response underpin a user’s inclination to like, or follow a page, rather than simply seeking information and news.
“The majority of the respondents believe such likes help in promoting humanitarian causes,” the researchers said.
“It is important to note that people like a cause on Facebook because they want to support it and encourage others in their network to support it as well.”
According to the survey findings, these were the top cited reasons for liking a social cause on Facebook:
- Socially responsible liking: survey respondents cited this motivation for likings groups the most, indicating that they believed their likes helped spread awareness.
- Emotional liking: the second-most cited reason respondents noted was liking causes based on “knee-jerk” emotive reactions to the content.
- Informational liking: respondents said that liking groups and causes allowed them to get regular updates and information on the topics.
- Social performative liking: respondents also noted that liking certain causes and groups could make Facebook users look good in their social circles.
- Low-cost liking: respondents indicated that they like these causes because it’s easy and costs nothing to do.
- Routine liking: a small number of respondents indicated mindless liking as a reason for their apparent support of a cause.
“The like button not only provides an opportunity to support a cause, but also enables users to engage with the site as a self-presentation tool,” the researchers said.
The implications for these findings is in understanding the nature and function of Facebook likes as a new form of civic engagement and humanitarian support, they said.
“Despite the controversy about slacktivism, many Facebook users in this sample believed that ‘liking’ a humanitarian cause could make a difference.”
“This is strengthened by the fact that socially responsible ‘liking’ is the most common motivation and for the perceived motivation for liking a humanitarian cause.”
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