We all love likes on social media, but we must remember that having many likes on social media does not necessarily equate to many likes in real life. Here, let’s take a look at what may be going on in the minds of your followers before they double-tap your posts on social media.
1) Reciprocal likes
Someone likes your post, so you feel obliged to like his or her post back in order to maintain the friendship or show appreciation for him or her liking your post. Perhaps you also feel that it’s only fair you give a like back in return.
2) Liking in the hope of getting liked
This is the opposite of the previous one. You want someone to notice you, so you like his posts so that he will notice you and like your posts in return.
3) Mindless likes
You open Instagram and double-tap every single thing without thinking about whether or not you really enjoy what you see in it. Sometimes, double-tapping just comes naturally to you and hence it becomes a habit to do so for each and every post.
4) Likes out of pity
You see someone who’s social media account has hardly any likes - sometimes so few that he feels the urge to like his own post (mind you, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s all about personal choice). As such, you feel the need to boost his self-esteem by liking his post.
5) Liking to spam
You want to spam someone and play with him. Maybe this could be someone whom you’ve just followed not too long ago, and hence you just want to troll him or perhaps try to play with him. Possibly you even want to get his attention so that he’ll screenshot all the likes and tag you on his Insta-story with the caption “thanks for the spam”.
6) Liking due to FOMO
You see everyone likes a post, so you do the same just to fit in. Perhaps this could be for a really popular dude in school or a celebrity. This also applies for comments on Instagram posts, when sometimes people like to add comments with certain phrases like "FLFC" (first like first comment), "SLSC" (for second) and "TLTC" (for third).
7) Liking out of romance
Say you secretly have a crush on this guy or girl, so you like his or her posts because you're too shy to tell them.
8) Manipulative likes
This is similar to the second reason, but in the hope of making someone follow you back. You may want to increase your number of followers, so you keep liking someone's posts (in this case, a person whom you are following but hasn't followed you back) so that they will feel appreciated and hence follow you in return.
9) Accidental likes
Say you're looking at someone's post and hey, you accidentally double tap. Too late; even if you "unlike" it, they'll still get the notification that you liked it, so just leave it as that.
10) Genuine likes
Ah, finally this. This is what we assume likes are about. We read a post from start to finish and if it’s about something we really love - be it your favourite football team or favourite show on Netflix - you like it because you sincerely feel for it. Even better, it could be a long blog, reflective post or video teaching us about some wise, old life lessons, which will ultimately boost our self-esteem. You love what you see, and hence you like it only after you finish reading or watching it.
Conclusion
Not all likes or comments are sincere, so regardless of how many likes we have, we must remember not to use it as a reflection of how many caring and loving people we have in our lives. People with tons of likes and followers may not be happy, and vice versa.
Don't judge someone who has very few likes or someone who doesn't even use social media. They may be so satisfied and secure about their lives that they don't feel the need to post. You may think that not using social media is equivalent to "not having a life" or not being "trendy", but this logic is flawed because how much one uses social media, and how he or she uses it, is a personal choice.
Likewise, we shouldn't be envious of people who have tons of likes and followers. The likes may not necessarily be sincere ones and they may be relying on it for a false sense of security and happiness when in reality, they may be deeply dissatisfied with their lives. At the end of the day, likes don't matter, but self-validation and people who genuinely love and care about you is what matters and can never be replaced by any amount of likes on social media.
To sum up, here's a formula:
1 like on social media ≠ 1 genuine like in real life
Comentários