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Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

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Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#111

Post by intended »

nvoeiah wrote: post #4

>Among iPhone owners, a striking 91% of respondents indicate that they would prefer Apple to release the iPhone every other year rather than every year. Among respondents not owning the iPhone, this fraction is even larger, at 94%. I wonder why the 94% care so much about a phone that they do not even intend to own. I can't help but think that this study simply shows that more people should mind their own damn busines…

That’s the point of the study ?

Social media is a near zero cost good. Seeing the ratio of preferences indicates something about what buyer behaviors are driven by.

The iPhone example is likely a reference or contrast point.

Finally - marketing is industrialized poking your nose in someone’s business is, and selling them things.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#112

Post by joshspankit »

bilsbie wrote: post #91
jawns wrote: post #50

One of the contributing factors here is that we keep calling these "social networks," but that's not really what they're being used for. If you look at an average user's feed, it probably breaks down into 30% traditional advertising, 20% nontraditional advertising (via influencers and friends shilling for their employers and promoting their side hustles), 30% content by people they have no social relationship with (c…

It is quite bizarre we call them social networks. Actually I wonder if there’s a market for an actual social network that is restricted to only being social. Maybe you can only have 100 connections and you can’t post links or rants. Just life updates and photos.

Makes me think of the shift from reality TV (real people living authentically on TV) to “reality TV” (the genre with it’s specific formulas/tropes/manipulation).

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#113

Post by pbj1968 »

joshspankit wrote: post #112
bilsbie wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite bizarre we call them social networks. Actually I wonder if there’s a market for an actual social network that is restricted to only being social. Maybe you can only have 100 connections and you can’t post links or rants. Just life updates and photos.

Makes me think of the shift from reality TV (real people living authentically on TV) to “reality TV” (the genre with it’s specific formulas/tropes/manipulation).

Your first one never existed.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#114

Post by dang »

Lockal wrote: post #41

How this level of title editorializing is possible on HN? It just picks Tiktok purely as a bait, but actual research includes multiple websites and also luxury brands.

Submitted title was "Study: Users would be willing to pay $28 to have their peers deactivate TikTok". That was badly editorialized (which is against the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

Even the article's own title is somewhat baity so I've changed it to a more neutral version of the subtitle.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#115

Post by dang »

demosthanos wrote: post #63
Lockal wrote: post #41

How this level of title editorializing is possible on HN? It just picks Tiktok purely as a bait, but actual research includes multiple websites and also luxury brands.

Email hn@ycombinator.com if you have concerns. The mods do care and will fix editorialized titles pretty quickly, but they can't keep up with everything as it is submitted. Emailing them helps keep the site clean from clickbait titles!

Yup. Thanks!

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#116

Post by ggm »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #28
ggm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I felt that an investment had a 2-3 year life before being semi-formally deprecated, I would feel more like buying it. The thing is, that I can't think of consumer objects I routinely buy where the pressure to show I have the "newest" one is so strong. Nobody cares if my kindle is old. Amongst my colleagues, like me it's a badge of honour to run an old phone. The last nokia standout only ditched it when they turne…

> The thing is, that I can't think of consumer objects I routinely buy where the pressure to show I have the "newest" one is so strong. Let me introduce you to the Garment District (Fashion Industry). People spend thousands for clothes they only wear for a couple of nights out, over a few weeks. It's a fairly wild industry.

Good point. Perhaps I should have qualified to tech. That said, I bet amongst the gamers there is significant pressure over GPU, and which generation of Playstation you're on.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#117

Post by 673457e347 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #57
jawns wrote: post #50

One of the contributing factors here is that we keep calling these "social networks," but that's not really what they're being used for. If you look at an average user's feed, it probably breaks down into 30% traditional advertising, 20% nontraditional advertising (via influencers and friends shilling for their employers and promoting their side hustles), 30% content by people they have no social relationship with (c…

Do people really use TikTok to keep up with their friends? I'd think it's mostly for pure entertainment, like Youtube or even MTV (the TV channel).

Speaking as a 33 year old with a freshly 18 year old sibling I'd say TikTok fills a similar niche to YouTube. You aren't really chatting on TikTok even if some people might post. What you're most likely doing is finding videos which you then share via another medium like Discord. Discord+YouTube+TikTok is a huge thing with younger netizens (and of course gamers in the case of Discord). YouTube is still popular but TikTok is less censored (this is probably the wrong word since YouTube has edgy content, but it seems to recommend more sanitized content than TikTok which most heavy users I've known agree has a much better/unrestrained recommendation algorithm).

So saying people use TikTok directly to keep up with their friends might not be the full picture. But I'd still say for many people TikTok plays a role in keeping up with your friends in that trading TikTok finds is a popular activity for many friends.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#118

Post by nmca »

vzqx wrote: post #110
xenospn wrote: post #23

Did they actually take the money /pay and deactivate or is this all hypothetical? Because I don’t believe this for a second.

The exact dollar amounts don't matter. As long as the ratio between amounts is the same, the authors' point still stands.

I don't think your comment is true unless you also include a linearity assumption that almost certainly doesn't hold, see e.g. prospect theory.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#119

Post by cvwright »

the_snooze wrote: post #95
bilsbie wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite bizarre we call them social networks. Actually I wonder if there’s a market for an actual social network that is restricted to only being social. Maybe you can only have 100 connections and you can’t post links or rants. Just life updates and photos.

>Actually I wonder if there’s a market for an actual social network that is restricted to only being social. There's a huge market for them. They're called private group chats, and they're popular everywhere. The problem is that you can't make much money off of that, precisely because they're socially valuable (i.e., they're strictly socially-driven, so there's no opportunity for in-line advertising, or recommending…

Group chats are such a poor substitute though. On 00’s Facebook you could post once for all of your friends to see, and they didn’t have to all know each other.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#120

Post by JackFr »

TuringNYC wrote: post #94
bilsbie wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite bizarre we call them social networks. Actually I wonder if there’s a market for an actual social network that is restricted to only being social. Maybe you can only have 100 connections and you can’t post links or rants. Just life updates and photos.

>> It is quite bizarre we call them social networks. They used to be social networks until they got littered with short-term engagement boosting content and ads. Facebook in 2006/2007 was so awesome.

The thing is, Facebook was never awesome. Really. Never.

It demonstrably reduces happiness and life satisfaction. It’s just bad.

And it’s easy to quit. Really.

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