Why We Share
We find, we share, we find some more. Why? What motivates us to share?
Sharing is human nature.
Enter Maslov’s hierarchy of needs. People whose physiological and safety-related needs are met can and do focus on their needs for love and belonging, esteem, and finally self-actualization. And it is a hierarchy. People need love and belonging before esteem, esteem before self-actualization.
(Side note. Social media’s role in revolutionary movements, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises, seem to have created a new place in the hierarchy; one that intersects every level of the pyramid at once. But I’m a marketer, not an anthropologist. Now back to marketing.)
Except where noted, all of the following data comes from the NY Times Customer Insight Group's study, The Psychology of Sharing.
Love and Belonging
We want to connect. To be known. To be seen. Around three-quarters of people share content to:
• stay connected to people they may not otherwise stay in touch with
• connect with others who share their interests
• feel more involved in the world
• give people a better sense of who they are and what they care about
Esteem
We crave prestige and a sense of accomplishment. Not only do we want to connect, to belong, but we want to be useful to our connections. 84% of people share content to support causes or issues they care about. And…start thinking about the Ice Bucket Challenge…now. Depending on your source, that campaign either helped advance ALS research or did not help at all, in addition to helping people boost their own esteem. Less compelling but still notable: about half of people share content to inform others of products they care about and potentially change opinions or encourage action.
Self-Actualization
We want to achieve our full potential. This desire drives us to want to better understand the information we’re consuming so that we might use it to help us meet our full potential. About three-quarters of people say they process information more deeply, thoroughly, and thoughtfully when they share it. And 85% say “reading other people’s responses helps them understand and process information and events.”
Interestingly, we believe that, before we dole out that precious info, we hold ourselves accountable to understand and absorb it. And yet 60% of links shared via Twitter are not clicked. Why are we passing along content we haven’t even clicked through to see? Are our needs for Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization in this always-on world so rabid that the buzz of all those likes and shares and clicks outweights all? Must marketers value shares as highly or even above clicks?
