Social media poll finds women want to feel connected, men want to make you jealous

We’re all in a love/hate relationship with social media. For all the obvious benefits, studies are now showing Facebook and Twitter could actually be detrimental to our well-being. Yet we push on. But what motivates us to share our lives with friends and strangers on social media?

Olapic, a leading visual content solution, released the findings of a recent poll aiming to answer that question.

Half of the respondents polled use social media to communicate emotions (how they feel, what they think, or what they’ve been doing). And while most are really awful at social media, the number one poll result for why they post is their (often flawed) thinking that others might find it interesting. Others, more than one in four (28-percent), do it to keep a sort of digital trail of what they’ve done.

But why share at all?

40-percent of Americans aged 16-44 do it in an attempt to feel more connected to their friends and family. Likes, it seems, are now a form of digital hug or interaction between loved ones. Women seek this connection more than men (41-percent to 28-percent) by posting supportive things for connections they care about.

Men, on the other hand, are more likely than women to post in an attempt to make others jealous, although not as many as you might think (8-percent).

Psych of Sharing – US Stats (New) by Bryan Clark on Scribd