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Brady, W. J., Gantman, A. P., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2020). Attentional capture helps explain why moral and emotional content go viral. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(4), 746–756. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1037/xge0000673.supp (Supplemental)

Being able to capture someone’s attention on social media is very important to increasing awareness of one’s brand. A brand should be able to distinguish themselves from others that may be within the same genre of products or services. For example, there are always several different pizza places in every town, yet they are able to maintain and all stay in business. This means they are all able to catch the attention of certain groups within the community in order to lead them to their business. One strategy that can be used is emotional connection. Many businesses try to connect emotionally with their customers and relate it back to something nostalgic for them. According to Brady, Gantman, and Van Bavel (2020), “we found that moral and emotional content are prioritized in early visual attention more than neutral content”. It could be a “hometown” pizza place or deli that creates childhood memories for many. Another strategy is electronic word of mouth. This can be very important in spreading awareness of your brand because people trust the opinions of their friends and family and are more likely to use a brand they suggest. A final strategy is to use social media to communicate with the public. There are many different ways to communicate with your clients and get their opinions on new business ventures in order to make them feel involved.

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Wiederhold. 2016. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.Obtained from: http://doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.1089/cy

Throughout the years, it has become a societal norm for people to become connected with those across the internet. Social media platforms, like facebook and instagram, make it easy to connect with loved ones or friends that do not live close enough to see on a regular basis. The internet can also make it easier to connect with complete strangers on the internet and become lifelong friends with someone that one may not have been able to communicate otherwise. Algorithms and cognitive biases can intensify homophily and can contribute to isolation. You can visit my previous post, linked below, to learn more about homophily. Algorithms can cause a person to be constantly bombarded with topics and goods that suit their thoughts and needs, which can be seen as both positive and negative. This is positive because it can help people find goods or services that they did not know existed. Unfortunately, algorithms can cause social isolation and an increase in the spread of misinformation. Bullying, hate speech, and political extremism can be perpetuated by people on the internet spreading misinformation and feeding into their own narrative with opinions that are claimed to be facts. According to Wiederhold (2016), “18.3% of the sample were considered to be pathological Internet users, whose excessive use of the Internet was causing academic, social, and interpersonal problems”. These cognitive biases contribute to most of the misinformation on the internet because people will continue to look for information to feed into their own biases. Seeking out scholarly material can help remove a lot of misinformation and bias, but there also needs to be a certain amount of fact-checking that goes into the sources people are finding. People also must have open minds when entering a conversation or situation where there are different opinions. Having the ability to listen to someone and understand that there may be room for one to grow in terms of knowledge on the subject would help decrease much of the misinformation and aggression that there is in today’s society.

https://hhunt0606.tumblr.com/post/628560883085426688/birds-of-a-featherthe-internet-and-social-media

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Birds of a Feather

The internet and social media have created on-line connections that would not have been able to happen otherwise. There are those that count on their on-line friends for support and encouragement rather than making connections in real life. This can be both beneficial and harmful. For example, a person with agoraphobia would not have been able to make friends or connections before the internet, but now they are able to connect with people around the globe that can encourage and share ways they are coping with their own phobias. This example can also be explained by homophily. The old saying goes “birds of a feather flock together”, and this accurately describes homophily. People create connections with others based on similarities and with the use of the internet, this idea is used more than ever. There are all sorts of communities on-line that can be joined based solely on similar characteristics or interests of the person. This can be harmful in that it can cause people to become socially isolated and only participate in relationships on-line and have little to no relationships in real life. Algorithms on social media can enhance the development of homophily by specifically advertising to you about your interests or hobbies. This can lead to finding groups or organizations that have similar beliefs and values.