The social media industry is in constant development, so much so, it’s becoming equally difficult for both marketers and the consumers to keep track of upcoming social media trends, features, and market requirements. Nevertheless, the rapid progress of platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and similar apps is leaving its footprint on the market, specifically on consumer behavior.
It’s not unusual to hear from people that social networks have a strong influence on our shopping habits, however, in this article, we’re going to test that thesis and show that popular online hangouts affect our personal lives more than the way we spend our money.
Social media share in eCommerce
The influence of social media on our purchasing activities is best described by numbers. The latest research, conducted by the Business Insider, shows that less than 5 percent of total eCommerce revenue in the US is due to shopping via social network platforms. Furthermore, the same research predicts a rise to only 7.8 percent in the next five years.
Keeping in mind that Facebook and Instagram alone provide their services to billions of people regularly, it’s clear that even though these apps offer seamless shopping experience, eCommerce could manage without them. Sponsored ads, strategic audience targeting features, as well as user interface shopping integration clearly can’t change our will to buy goods and services within original store locations, both offline and online.
We can’t be certain about the reason why people still prefer buying outside social networks. However, it’s safe to assume that one would more likely use a search engine to find professional essay writers for a college assignment or buy new scuba gear for the summer.
Social relations disruption
Professor Jean M. Twenge, from San Diego State University, conducted a study that included college freshmen. The goal of the study was to show how much time do modern-day teenagers spend on a person to person engagement, compared to their peers in the 80s. The final results displayed that millennials spend daily one hour less than college freshmen 30 years ago did on a face to face contact.
Moreover, even when people share the same space, their level of interaction is diminished by their social media engagement. It’s almost impossible to pass by a group of people without realizing that at least one person is not paying attention to the conversation that takes place in their presence because it’s occupied by an online discussion or an interesting Facebook post.
The evolution of human interaction
Information sharing is nowadays much faster, with a single post we can reach out to thousands of people. Let’s say you want to know more about a certain essay writing service, their price range, level of quality, or any other information that you wouldn’t get on their official website. User comments and reviews help us establish informed opinion.
It doesn’t mean that people don’t communicate with each other because of social media, the truth is, the way we communicate has changed. Still, we should keep in mind that this shift in the way we interact drove an increase in cyberbullying and allowed people to spread hatred and bigotry freely because we feel much safer behind the screen. Moreover, Avaaz recently published a report stating that more than 40 percent of information shared across Facebook, related to COVID 19 pandemics was false. This is not the first time that social media outlets were deemed responsible for allowing disinformation to spread across the globe. Considering the number of people that visit Facebook regularly, it comes to reason that these socialization hubs have a strong influence on the way we form our opinion, which might trigger negative consequences to our wellbeing.
The influence of social media on mental health
According to Pew Research Center statistics, more than 24 percent of young adults that took part in the survey say they have mostly negative social media experience; including racism, bullying, peer pressure, while 4 percent of these kids report mental health issues. On the other hand, 31 percent of the participants share mostly positive involvement, mainly because they feel more connected to their family and friends.
Pew Research Center report also shows that users keep social media in high regard when it comes to expressing their creativity and building their professional careers. This goes especially for those who don’t react well to criticism, the ability to control your exposure and manage audience engagement with each post.
Some of us find it less stressful to share visual or textual content with our peers and consider their feedback. If we get too many negative responses, we can seamlessly remove our post and seek out the best dissertation service to fix our errors. This is an amazing way to reduce anxiety when turning in a college paper or delivering our work to a client.
Conclusion
While social media platforms collect our browsing data for marketing purposes, our purchasing habits are not much affected, as we can see. However, our mental state, the way we communicate, share information and look for jobs heavily rely on social networks. We are in control of our user accounts and interactions, therefore, the influence of social media on our lives is entirely up to us.
