Why Do You Like What You Like?
When I first got a Facebook, I remember being more stingy with my Like button. I didn’t like any posts unless I really did like the post. I liked my close friends posts and occasionally liked some promotional advertisements like Walmart. But now I find myself liking so much more and posts of people I don’t know at all, but I’m friends with them and their life looks great. I’ve become one of social media's daily browsers. Not occasionally liking posts, but frequently liking posts. But not every post, because it's not practical to do that. So, how do posts make the cut? I mean, Why do certain posts on social media get my likes and not others? What causes me to push that like button? Or not to push it?
We read articles about how we shouldn’t judge others and what they do or believe, but every time we scroll through Facebook that’s exactly what we are doing; whether we want to admit it or not. There are many reasons why we like or don’t like certain posts. Some conscious decisions while other reasons being sub-conscious. Here are some reasons I've come up with.
The Actual like- this one is a no-brainer. You actually do like the post. It was an inspirational quote. A good quality sweet meaningful picture. A funny joke. It made you feel happy that you came across it today.
The Pressure like-Its already got a hundred likes! What is so great about this post? You wouldn't have thought it deserved your like, but since everyone else is liking it, you should probably like it too.
The Stopping Point "not-like"- You were about to like the post but you saw they already had five hundred likes. Then you think to yourself "I don't want to make their count uneven." or you think, "They have enough likes. They don't need mine." So you don't push your like button.
The Pity like- you see a post that has been on for a couple hours and it only got 3 likes. You know the person and feel pity for their ego because no one else has liked their mediocre post. So being the compassionate person you are, you like it to make them feel better.
The Judgmental “not-like”- You don’t like the person in real life, so unsurprisingly you don’t like their Facebook posts either.
The They’re nice like- You like the post, not because you liked the post, but because you liked the person who posted it.
The Pretty Picture Award like- These are the beautiful pics that could go on a magazine cover or it could go on your living room wall. Of course they deserve your like.
The Share like- This post you liked so much that not only did you like it, you shared it with your friends.
The Comment like- You didn’t like the original post but you like all the comments made about the post.
The Stalk like- You were creeping on someone’s old posts and liked their stuff from 3 yrs ago
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The Family/friend like- The actual post might have been great or not-so-great but they’re close to you, so you like it to be supportive of them.
Now if your friend hasn't liked your posts lately don't take it out on them. It could be they just haven't seen your posts. They haven't been on Facebook every day, so they are way behind on their news feed.
This article isn't to discern why others haven't liked your posts, but it was made to make you think about the reasons you liked or didn't like certain ones.
What are some more reasons you think people like what they like?