The Reasons Social Media is Popular

Long ago, social media took the world by storm.

Starting with MySpace over a decade ago, social

media sites have trended and become the “cool

place” to be for all ages.

Many wonder what made them so popular in the

first place. What do they offer that other websites

couldn’t?

The following are two big reasons that sites like

Facebook and Twitter have become phenomenally popular. They offered people the ability to custom

create relationships and share their lives with others.

Creation

First up, people like to create. It’s innate in their nature. The Sim City Games were popular for about a

decade because of the ability you had to create your own city. Who doesn’t want to be able to

customize a massive, organized, and successful city?

The city can conform to any design you want. If you don’t like an element, you can bulldoze it away.

If you want to build something, there’s nothing to stop you from doing so. The only limits presented are

the limits to your imagination and willingness to work.

These are the fundamental reasons why Sim City was such a popular game. It is also the fundamental

reason why people love Legos.

With enough Legos, you can make anything you want. One moment the pieces form a fortified fifteenth-

century castle, defending against the overwhelming raids of Vikings and Barbie alike.

Discovery

The next, it is the last remaining ship of human refugees orbiting the recently discovered planet known

as “Mom’s head” in search of safe haven. Imagination soars when you have the ability to create

anything you want.

People latch onto the idea of creation and run with it. It’s the power to make a dream a reality.

Social media offers people the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships. It offers artists the

opportunity to customize your reputation.

It offers businesses the opportunity to build an audience. There is so much potential in social media to

build the things that people want: relationships with other people.

That’s not all that social media offers people the opportunity to do though. Social media offers you the

ability to share their opinions.

Sharing

People, especially teenagers, want to be heard by the right people. A Facebook page allows you to share

certain things with certain people; you choose what and to whom.

Twitter allows you to quickly connect with and share news with friends and associates. Hashtag

someone, or something important and become a part of a bigger conversation.

When you become of that “something bigger,” you feel a little bit bigger yourself. Your sense of

importance improves as you share things that people catch onto.

Twitter is the news central of the world when you’re connected to the right people. Every form of social

networking is an opportunity to share something of yours with someone else.

When that gets noticed and appreciated (with a retweet, like, or pin), you feel a little more appreciated.

That appreciation makes social media worth it.

Relationships

The combination of being able to customize your own world of

relationships combined with the ability to receive feedback for the

things you share makes social media absolutely irresistible to the

world. That’s how these companies have become empires in their

own right.

That customization principle applies to every product you might

make. Customizability allows the product to fit the best interests of the consumer.

TRA Snow & Sun learned this with installing snow clips. Snow clips have to be custom fitted to every

house to make sure they work like they should.

TRA comes out, takes a look at the roofing and makes a plan. They then custom install snow clips to best

fit the needs of their customers.

Photo credit: Matt Hamm, Rosaura Ochoa