Peer pressure beyond acne, the cool crowd and first dates?
I recently heard Bridget Brennan of The Female Factor speak at the M2W Conference about the immense impact of popularity on society today. It’s not the popularity that we dealt with in middle school or high school.
Today, it is the pressure to be interesting online. How interesting are your posts? How many people follow you? How many times have your posts been shared? We check our stats incessantly. Heck, some job interviewers even want to know your Klout score.
Why is Online Popularity Important?
Today some 98% of persons online in the US use social media, so does social media relate to social capital? Social capital has always been important. It is considered to be the sum of the networks, connections, influence and interactions people have with other individuals. There have always been different types of social capital based on your sphere of influence, your wealth, your status in aristocracy, your celebrity and your accomplishments.
In today’s world, online influence can be measured as those with the most Twitter followers – Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Barack Obama or top Facebook Pages for Shakira, Rihanna and Coke. Bloggers like The Pioneer Woman have created complete media platforms from their original blog, and LinkedIn has introduced us to the Influencers. Digital influence raters like Klout, PeerIndex, and Kred are investing millions of dollars to understand how our social media activity translates into influence.
It seems that you can increase your social capital online if you follow some important rules. If you use social media to communicate directly with other individuals—by posting valuable information, commenting on friends’ posts, regular posting, being helpful—it can increase your social capital. Personalized messages seem to have more value than “one-click communication”. Just reading and occasionally posting does not add to your popularity.
Brands are beginning to learn that scores do not matter as much as engagement and real relationships. Businesses need to develop meaningful social influence strategies and define their desired outcomes. Not all followers are created alike. Just like in high school, not all popular people were really fun to be around.
